


We Could Blame It All on Human Nature

by jetreadsstuff



Series: The Beachfic Duology [1]
Category: unnamed bad space show
Genre: Beach Trip, College AU, F/F, Gay Lance, Lesbian Allura, Lesbian Pidge, M/M, Slow Burn, Spring Break, Surfing, bi hunk, lesbian keith, trans keith
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-07
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:54:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 59,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23048116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jetreadsstuff/pseuds/jetreadsstuff
Summary: Red and Lance have been dorm mates for all of freshman year. They have barely spoken the whole time. And when they do speak, they fight. It's not that they hate each other, oh no, they just haven't had the right opportunity to become friends. That's where spring break comes in. When Lance's mother decides that Red should be invited along to the family beach house in California, it turns both their worlds upside down. Will the two of them find out each of them has something the other is missing, or are the two of them just too different?
Relationships: Allura/Keith (Voltron), Hunk/Lance (Voltron), Lance & Keith, Pidge | Katie Holt/Original Female Character(s)
Series: The Beachfic Duology [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1856947
Comments: 10
Kudos: 14





	1. Coexisting at Best

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick note: I, the author, am a mixed-race Chicana. I have tried my best to be respectful of Cuban-American culture and people, but if anything in this work is inaccurate or disrespectful, please let me know and I will change it and apologize.  
> I have noticed a pattern in a lot of fics about Latino characters, where their ethnic traits are washed away to the point where it's like "this is my oc, Bob" or the ethnic traits that are present are entirely rooted in stereotypes or ignorance. I am attempting to create a narrative where the characters in it feel like real people. Fleshed out. Proud of their roots but not defined by them. This fic is pure indulgence for me, a love letter to the types of stories that I wanted to see as a little girl and never got.  
> I hope you all enjoy reading this as much as I have writing it!

The trouble began, as most trouble does, with a phone call. Leandro had been walking up the stairs to his dorm room when his phone began to ring. And it wasn’t that Leandro hated talking on the phone, it was merely that he wasn’t used to it. He thought, briefly, of which of his friends would have an emergency phonecall powerful enough to penetrate the standard college etiquette of texting to make sure it’s cool to check-in. He answered quickly enough that he did not even check the caller ID, and he was relieved to hear his mother's voice at the other end of the call. 

"My Leandro!" she exclaimed. 

"What's up, Ma?" he asked, struggling to unlock the door with one hand occupied with a phone and the other with takeout.

"Oh, I am just so happy I get to see you," she explained, "and I am so excited to meet your friends from school!"

"Uh-huh," Leandro clicked his tongue, "but..."

"Who all did you say was coming?" she asked, "I want to make sure I have a good amount of groceries and toiletries and all that."

"I'm bringing three people," Leandro answered, "Hunk, Shiro, and Katie."

"Okay, let me see if I have this right," his mother paused, "Hunk is your best friend at school? The environmental lawyer? Shiro is...the student-teacher, right? And Katie is your roommate?"

"Mostly right. Katie isn't my roommate, though," Leandro corrected.

"Sorry. Who's Katie, again?" 

"The teenager."

"You are bringing along a teenager and not your roommate?" Leandro could practically feel his mother raise her eyebrows.

"Katie is cool," Leandro protested, "besides, her parents are cool with it. She's only a couple of years behind us."

"And your roommate?" she asked.

"What about her?" Leandro opened the door to the dorm, grateful his roommate wasn't already there.

"She's not cool?"

"Nah, she's kind of an asshole," Leandro set his takeout on the small table towards the shared closet.

"Leandro!" his mother scolded.

"What? She is!" 

"You have to live with this girl for four years and you're just willing to accept that you don't get along?" 

"We get along sometimes," Leandro mumbled.

"Then why don't you bring her along?"

"Because, Mami, spring break is a week away and she probably has plans," Leandro pointed out.

"Probably, but not definitely?"

"Well, I dunno?"

"Then ask," his mother instructed, "do you have any idea how rude it is for you to leave this girl behind and go on vacation with all your friends! Who raised you?"

"Sarcastic answer or serious answer?" 

"Leandro, I'm just saying. When I was in college, my roommate was my best friend. This could be the perfect bonding experience for the two of you."

"And you're just asking about this now when you've had all semester?"

"Leandro. It's my first year without you in the house. Your older brother and sister barely come around nowadays. Spring is a busy time for this family. So forgive me if I'm looking forward to my house being full again," she sighed, "I'm not trying to force this on you. I just think that if the two of you bond on this trip, your college experience will be much more fun."

“But ma-”

“No buts. If you want to bring your other friends, you will ask your roommate.”

"Okay," Leandro agreed, despite himself, “okay. I’ll ask.”

"I'll buy groceries enough for four extra guests, just in case!" his mother said giddily, "speaking of, I'm just about to go shopping. I'll call you later, okay?"

"Yeah, Ma. I love you."

"Love you too."

Leandro flopped back onto his bed and looked at the clock on the other side of the room. He had about thirty minutes before his roommate got back from classes. That gave him thirty minutes to hope that she already had plans. And it wasn't that Leandro hated this girl, he didn't know enough about her to properly hate her. It was normal roommate stuff. Well, maybe a little more serious than normal roommate stuff. 

He valued his sleep. She didn't seem to know the meaning of the word sleep. He had friends over all the time to study and just kick it, while she had friend, that was friend as in singular, come over. Leandro had somehow managed to befriend her one friend, and this annoyed her to no end. She was often just listening to music, painting or sculpting. Which, she was an art major. She had better be painting a lot. But Leandro was sure if he sat there knitting for eighteen hours straight, and it was sometimes eighteen hours, he would go bananas. He would at least get carpel tunnel.

Hate wasn't really the right word, she just got on Leandro's nerves. Quite a bit, in fact. She forgot to use headphones more often than not, into the wee hours of the night and got huffy when Leandro told her to cram it. Little things like that drove Leandro up the wall. And even if he wanted to get on her good side, which he did not, he wasn't really sure how to. A lot of people were easy for Leandro to talk to. That was his thing. But Red, oh Red, was one tough nut to crack.

She finally put an end to Leandro's agonizing, walking through the front door. 

"Hey, Red," he managed.

"Hey, Lance," Red tossed her motorcycle helmet onto her bed.

"I got pizza," he told her.

"Cool," she answered.

"You can have some if you want," he continued.

"Cool."

"How was class?" He asked. His voice was overexcited, obviously fake, but overexcited.

"What's going on, Lance?" she asked.

"Nothing."

"Cool."

Leandro already wanted to scream. She was completely insufferable. She'll say no, he reminded himself. She'll say no.

"So, the gang and I are driving down to my family’s beach house for break," he swung his legs over the edge of the bed to face her.

"Yeah, I know," Red quirked an eyebrow.

"Well," Leandro sighed, "what do you have going on for spring break?"

"Nothing," she answered, "I never have anything going on for breaks. You know that."

“Right, sorry,” Leandro chuckled nervously.

“I’m sorry, is that funny?” she asked. Leandro groaned. He met her gaze. She wasn’t trying to start a fight. She was genuinely asking. Leandro softened.

“No, sorry,” Leandro rubbed the back of his neck.

“You keep saying that,” Red furrowed her brow.

“Right. Sorry. I mean-” Leandro cleared his throat, “Do you  _ want _ plans for spring break?”

“What do you mean?” Red straightened her spine. 

“Well,” he paused. There was no way she would agree to go if she knew this was his mother’s idea, and his mother would know if he half-assed it, “I thought it might be a good idea for you to join us. If you want, I mean.”

“You don’t have to do that. It’s okay, really,” Red gripped the metal edge of her bed.

“Look, it’s weird living with someone you barely know,” he sighed, “I just think, well, maybe we just need to have a bonding experience.”

“Bonding experience?” Red repeated, “You really want to get to know me?”

“Yeah, I mean, Shiro thinks you’re pretty great,” he answered, “and Shiro rules.”

“Shiro is the closest thing I have to a brother,” Red closed her eyes, “and he thinks I can be hard to deal with.”

“I bet I’m hard to deal with sometimes, yeah?”

“Well.”

“Don’t answer that, Red.”

“Okay.” She didn’t say anything else for a little while.

“So, what do you say? Surfing, sun, a warm bed to sleep in, home-cooked meals, and to top it off, a new best friend,” Lance smiled. Red thought about it.

“Okay,” Red finally nodded, “okay, I’ll go.”

“Great! I have a checklist for stuff you’ll probably want, not that I won’t have plenty to go around,” Leandro rambled, “and if you don’t have a suitcase, you should probably get one.”

Red sighed. This was already an ordeal.

* * *

“I can’t believe that I have to get a bathing suit,” Red cringed at the list staring back at her. She also couldn’t believe that like an idiot, she had waited until the last second.

“I think Lance would understand if you didn’t want to swim,” Shiro assured her.

“Dude, if everyone else goes swimming and I’m the only person staying out of the water, that’s definitely weird,” Red pointed out.

“So? Lance already knows you’re weird,” Shiro joked.

‘Shiro,” Red glared.

“Kidding,” Shiro held up a hand in surrender.

“It’s not that I don’t like swimming, it’s that I don’t like people looking at me,” Red mumbled.

“Right, because the look that says ‘if you stare upon me, let thee gouge thine eyes out’ is totally in right now,” Shiro nodded.

“Dude.”

“Right. I should be helpful,” Shiro apologized. Red squinted at the bathing suit rack like it owed her money and she was trying to passive-aggressively avoid causing a scene.

“This one’s good,” Red picked up a bathing suit that was essentially just a tank top with a skort sewn on. 

“Really? The one with the sequins? Shiro quirked an eyebrow.

“Sequins can be cut off,” Red pointed out.

“You’re not cutting anything off until you try it on,” Shiro narrowed his eyes, “and please trust me when I say that you are going to want to try it on.”

Red sighed and nodded. They made their way to the men’s bathing suits. Almost instantly, Shiro picked up a pair of trunks that were excruciatingly ugly. There were palm trees, turtles and surfboards printed on them.

“Whaddya think?” Shiro asked. 

“Purple is your color,” Red scrunched up her nose. 

“Cool, let’s find the fitting room,” Shiro beamed. 

“Can I ask you a question?” Red looked at the ground.

“Sure, Red,” Shiro said.

“Do you think Lance just invited me along because he actually wanted to, or do you think he’s just pitying me?” Red asked.

“Loaded question,” he stopped walking for a moment, “first of all, you’re not the type of person that somebody pities.”

“Yeah, well, I’m a loner whose only friend is a student teacher and is pretty much the only person in school without plans for spring break,” Red sighed, “I’m not lame, I know that. But the last thing that I need to be right now is some sort of black sheep of this trip.”

“Second of all,” Shiro continued, louder, “Lance is a good kid. I like him a lot. And I know you would like him too if you got to know him.”  
“Yeah, well, what do you know?” Red rolled her eyes.

“How long have I known you for?” Shiro asked.

“Like, five years?” 

“Seven, Red, seven.”

“So, what?” Red huffed, “How long have you known Lance for, like, five minutes?”

“Long enough,” Shiro answered, “I’ve known you both long enough.”

“Shiro,” Red sighed.

“Your roommate invited you to the beach for spring break,” Shiro said, placing a hand on Red’s shoulder, “I can promise you that is not the end of the world.”

Red grumbled something in response, too quiet for Shiro to hear. It didn’t matter. He had won the argument.

* * *

On the night before the trip, Leandro found himself not even remotely relaxed. Which was odd, for Leandro at least. Usually, the night before a trip, he buzzed with excitement. Now, well, now he was-c

“Where the fuck are my glasses?” Leandro asked, looking beneath his mattress.

“Well, you definitely didn’t wear them to bed, so you can stop destroying your mattress,” Hunk pointed out. 

“You’re wearing them,” Katie mumbled, not looking up from her book. Leandro rolled his eyes. He was. He was wearing them.

“Ah,” Leandro said plainly.

“At what point are you going to stop looking for reasons to freak out?” Katie asked.

“I am not looking for reasons to freak out,” Leandro lied.

“Dude, it’s gonna be fine. This girl isn’t gonna, like, bite you,” Hunk assured him. 

“You don’t know that. I’ve never seen her go in the sun. She could be a vampire for all we know,” Leandro half-protested.

“Aren’t all of her classes at noon? As in, like, during the day?” Hunk pointed out.

“Ugh, you guys seem so normal but then I remember that you’re morning people,” Katie chimed in.

“If you have classes as soon as you wake up, you don’t have to dread them all day,” Hunk retorted.

“If I had the choice to sleep until noon, I absolutely would,” Katie spun in Lance’s desk chair. 

“Okay, little miss pass out at her computer at four am and wake up at seven for class,” Leandro folded his arms.

“Lance, that is like, way too long for a nickname,” Katie pointed out. 

“Little miss insomniac,” Hunk suggested.

“Little miss insomniac,” Leandro repeated, “thanks, Hunk.”

“I’m not an insomniac. I just get focused on homework,” Katie protested.

“Is homework slang for dumb videos?” Leandro teased.

“They’re not dumb, asshole!” Katie furrowed her brow.

“God, what the hell were we doing?” Hunk interrupted.

“We were getting ready to order a pizza,” Leandro answered.

“No, we weren’t,” Hunk said.

“Well, I’m hungry, and I want pizza, so that is what we’re talking about now,” Leandro grabbed his phone off the bed, “I’m gonna go do that. Please do not destroy my room while I’m gone, that includes you, Hunk.”

“That includes me?” Hunk asked after Leandro stepped out into the hallway, “What did I do?”

“Is that a serious question? Should I start listing things?” Katie squinted.

“Alright, alright,” Hunk sighed, “so, do you think Lance is being irrational about this Red girl?”

“I don’t know, man, I haven’t met her,” Katie shrugged.

“I only met her a few times,” Hunk explained, “she’s usually not around when I’m hanging out at Lance’s dorm.”

“Right, morning people. Disgusting,” Katie shuddered dramatically.

“Uh-huh,” Hunk rolled his eyes.

“Well, what did you learn from the few times you met her?” Katie asked.

“She’s, uh,” Hunk paused, “she’s an art major. I know that. She mostly works with charcoals and oil paints.”

“I’m not an artist, but aren’t those both, like, really really different?” Katie asked.

“Yeah. Both messy, though. Both very messy,” Hunk answered.

“Alright, go on.” 

“She’s always listening to music. From what Lance says she’s quote ‘always blasting angry girl group rock at top volumes’,” Hunk continued.

“I already like this girl,” Katie smiled.

“Well, she’s kind of moody, from what Lance tells me anyway.”

“Maybe she just needs to get to know us,” Katie pulled her knees up to her chest. 

“That’s Miss Rivera’s point of view,” Hunk nodded.

“Wise woman, that Miss Rivera,” Katie narrowed her eyes, “what the hell is taking Lance so long?”

“Ordering the pizza? It’s always like this. I bet he hasn’t even dialed yet,” Hunk looked towards the door.

“I wouldn’t have figured Lance for the type to be nervous to call pizza places. I mean, he’s the emotional support extrovert.”

“That he is,” Hunk agreed, “nah, he’s just on the website, looking at the menu.”

“Well, I’m gonna tell him to hurry up,” Katie stood.

“Please don’t,” Hunk groaned, “you’ll make him have to start over, and then we’re never gonna get him back in here.”

“Jeez, really?” 

“The man takes pizza ridiculously seriously,” Hunk sighed, “and his garlic knots.”

“Leandro Rivera-Cruz is quite the character,” Katie marveled.

“Yeah,” Hunk smiled. Katie paused.

“How’s your uh, your thing with Lance, by the way?” Katie asked.

“Shh! Lower your voice!”

“I am literally talking at a normal volume,” Katie pointed out, “and ‘thing’ could mean anything. I could be asking about that movie you saw last week, for all he knows.”

“It was awesome, by the way.”

“I mean, sorry, I don’t mean to pry, I just wanted to, like, check on you. You weren’t doing great after the party the other night.”

“Look, I appreciate your concern, but I have things under control,” Hunk said, completely unconvincingly.

“Are you sure?”

“If I wasn’t, I promise I would tell you.”

“I know, Hunk, thanks.”

“Thanks to you, too. I mean, for being cool about all of this.”

“Sure, man,” Katie smiled. There was silence.

“I do not have things under control,” Hunk blurted out.

“I figured. You want to talk about it?” 

“Not in Lance’s dorm, I don’t,” Hunk folded his arms.

Speak of the devil, Leandro walked back into the room right then. 

‘Alright, a large cheese pizza and a side of knots is on its way!” Leandro said excitedly.

“Good,” Hunk smiled, “eating will calm you down.”

“Think so?” Leandro asked.

“Know so,” Hunk answered.

“Once you’re not panicky anymore, we can start getting pumped about the trip again,” Katie chimed in.

“And we should be pumped,” Leandro grinned, “guys, tomorrow is the start of the rest of our lives!” 

Katie and Hunk cheered.

And it really, really was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Timestamp of shame: March 6th 2020, the day my dignity retired. 
> 
> This fic is dedicated to my best friend, absolute ride or die, twin flame, binch twin for life, and to my gf, the original transbian Kallura who got me on a track to this crazy train so long ago. Love you both, thanks for believing in me, and FUCK YOU for encouraging this 💞💞💞💞💞💞


	2. Starting at the End

It was four in the morning when they finally got ready to leave. Red stayed up all night, because she figured that was easier than waking up early. Leandro’s alarm rang at three thirty in the morning.

“Jesus christ,” Leandro groaned, “motherfuck.”

“I agree,” Red said. Leandro rolled over. Red turned on the lamp next to her bed.

“You look horrible,” Leandro said.

“So do you,” Red glared.

“God. I’m way too tired. I need caffeine,” Leandro groggily stood up and made his way to the kitchenette. One of the few luxuries of the dorm was a coffee machine. It belonged to Leandro, so Red never used it, and she didn’t like coffee anyway. Still, the smell of fresh coffee made Red’s stomach growl.

“Do you have like, breakfast foods? I’ll pay you back,” Red asked.

“We’re getting breakfast on the way, but if you can’t wait, I think I have some granola bars,” he answered.

“Nah, I can wait, thanks,” Red scratched at her arm.

“You want some coffee?” He asked. 

“No thanks,” Red scrunched up her nose, “I saw what it did to that guy you’re always hanging around.”

“Hunk? Yeah. The stuff he gets is a little less strong than what I buy,” Leandro explained, “I’m not as much of an early riser as he is. I need help,”

“If your, like, thousands of alarms didn’t indicate that already,” she teased. She didn’t know if she was doing the teasing thing right. She didn’t want to be mean by mistake. Oh god.

“Hm,” Leandro said. She couldn’t tell. 

“So, how long is the drive? I mean, we’re leaving at 4 am like crazy people, but,” Red reached for the fridge to grab an energy drink.

“Well, it’s a fifteen and a half hour drive,” Leandro started.

“Jesus christ,” Red mumbled.

“Yeah. Agreed. It’s probably gonna take like, an hour to get everyone, another like, half hour for breakfast if we really rush, add like an hour for other stops and stuff, which puts us at uh,” he paused, “like, eighteen hours, which puts us at roughly ten at night.”

“I don’t want to be in a car for eighteen hours,” Red dragged her hands down her face.

“Yeah, me either,” Leandro yawned, “we should get going.”

Red chugged the rest of her energy drink and grabbed her rolling bag, promptly giving herself heartburn. 

* * *

“Why does everyone have to live off campus,” Leandro hit his head on the steering wheel, “I’m already so tired and bored. Red, entertain me.”

“How am I supposed to entertain you?” Red asked.

“I dunno. Talk,” Leandro yawned.

“What about?” Red frowned.

“Hm,” Leandro answered, “I dunno.”

“Well, what do you want to know?” Red asked.

“Huh?”

“You wanted me on this trip so we could get to know each other. You could ask me questions, or whatever,” Red suggested. 

“Sure,” Leandro shrugged, “uh, what’s your favorite, uh, movie?”

“Seriously?”

“I dunno! I’m tired, fuck off!”

“Okay. I don’t think I have a favorite movie,” Red sighed.

“What did you just say to me?” Leandro asked, “You don’t have a favorite movie? Like, at all?”

“It was princess bride when I was a kid but then that got overrated to death,” Red explained.

“That’s still a great movie,” Leandro protested.

“It’s ok,” Red shrugged.

“You do have a favorite movie. You do. I can feel it. You’re just embarrassed to say.”

“I am not embarrassed,” Red protested.

“I know, because my favorite movie is also embarrassing,” Leandro said, “I know the look.”

“What’s your favorite movie?” Red asked.

“I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours.”

“You first.”

“The live action Scooby Doo movie,” Lance finally said.

“Dude, are you serious?”

“No making fun.”

“No, dude, I am pissed. That’s not even that bad. They’re fun. I want to know what the absolute worst movie that you like is.”

“Fine, you got me. My absolute favorite movie is actually two, and they’re both so bad.”

“Dude. stop stalling.”

“Blue crush and Riptide.”

“I’ve never heard of either one of those.”

“Girly teen surf movies,” Leandro explained, “they’re bad and they’re like, weirdly paced? But they are near to my heart as a surfer.”

“Wow. I feel less embarrassed about mine now.”

“Which is?” Leandro grinned.

“Ugh. Okay, fine. Don’t judge me or I’ll kill you.”

“You have my word.”

“And don’t tell shiro because I swear to god-”

“Oh my god, Red, quit stalling,” Leandro rolled his eyes.

“Miss Congeniality.”

“Oh my god,” Leandro stifled a laugh.

“I told you no judgement,” Red furrowed her brow. 

“No judgement, I swear,” Leandro raised a hand in surrender, “I actually think my mom has a copy of it. She loves Sandra Bullock, which is very unlike her.”

“Leandro, I am not watching Miss Congeniality with you,” Red folded her arms,

“Come onnnnn it’s your favorite,” Leandro egged her on.

“No.”

“Alright. Your turn to ask a question.”

“Ok. tell me something, uh, weird about yourself.”

“Weird?” 

“You know, extra toe, strange talents, if I asked something about you I’d get a generic answer. So, what is the weirdest thing about you?” Red asked.

“Alright?” Leandro raised an eyebrow, “Uh, when I was a kid, my dad used to leave me with his friend, this really nice older butch lesbian named Hazel. And besides, you know, listening to her stories and getting ice cream, we’d mostly just watch TV together. And, you know, I was thirteen, and she was like, in her mid forties, so I was sort of at the mercy of whatever she wanted to watch.”

“This had better be super weird.”

“It is! Let me finish!”

“Right. Sorry.”

“One show she really liked were a bunch of sitcoms from the nineties. Popular when she was, like, our age. And her favorite was Living Single. She watched that all the time. And being young with a lot of, like, elasticity in my brain, and being thirteen especially with god knows what going on emotionally, I sort of, like, latched onto it. And like, that’s a weird long winded way of saying I have the entire first season committed to memory. The entire first season.”

“Wow, what?” Red was completely perplexed.

“Yeah, I know,” Leandro said, “sometimes, when I zone out in class, I’ll just watch living single in my head.”

“When I zone out in class I think about absolutely nothing. I just stand there like a dead eyed shark.”

“I wish i could relate. Okay, now your weirdest thing.”

“Okay,” Red paused, “my parents came up with this, like, it was like their own language, and they refused to teach me any of it for some reason. They wrote songs and had entire conversations, and all they ever said about it to me was that it was too complicated to explain.”

“I’m sorry, they what?” Leandro’s eyes grew wide.

“And there were all sorts of weird phrases they used to talk to each other, and one specifically was like, one melon is worth two cows if you slap it right.”

“Excuse me?”

“Yeah! And they’d always like, say it and then just laugh and laugh. I know it was an inside joke and I have no idea what the fuck it means and my mom always said she would explain it when I got older, but then, you know.”

“Mhm,” he didn’t know, in fact, but he also didn’t want to be rude.

“I think about that every day there’s nobody else who was in on it. And now like, I can’t ask either of them. What on fucking Earth could that have possibly meant,” Red furrowed her brow.

“That’s gonna drive me insane, like, the entire trip, I hope you know,” Leandro said.

“How do you think I feel?”

“Point taken,” Leandro took a right into an apartment complex. Finally, they were at their first stop.

* * *

After all the guests had been rounded up, they drove to a small diner on the outskirts of town. Leandro was gracious enough to pay for everyone. It was a challenge making sure not to eat something too greasy but eating something filling at the same time. Red finally settled on waffles.

She picked up on names while the others went around the table, talking. She already knew Shiro, Hunk was the name of that guy Leandro always brought around the dorm that Red had been convinced were dating for the first couple of months, and Katie, who Red hadn’t met before, but she had heard Leandro talking on the phone with her. 

It wasn’t like Red was too shy, or anything, she just felt so completely outside looking in about this group of friends. They were all so in sync, something fully formed that Red was now shoehorning herself into. Well, that Leandro was forcing her into. She looked at Leandro and wondered why he took sudden interest in getting to know her right before a family trip, and not, like, any other time in the entire universe. 

Red found comfort in Shiro being there. Her oldest friend. If all else failed, she could talk to him. That was her plan, anyway.

“Lance,” Shiro said, interrupting Red’s train of thought, “you’re sorta dozing off.”

“Am not!” Leandro yawned.

“Your eyes are closed,” Katie pointed out.

“They are?” Leandro asked.

“How are you possibly tired after an entire travel mug of espresso?” Hunk waved a hand in front of Leandro’s face.

“Two!” Leandro corrected, “Haven’t kicked in, I guess. It’s fine, let’s go.”

“I’m not getting in a car where the driver can’t even tell that his eyes are open,” Katie protested.

“Well, we’re not sitting around here all day,” Leandro insisted,

“I’ll drive,” Red chimed in.

“Red, no, you drive a motorcycle. You haven’t driven a car in, like, years. We don’t have time for you to figure out how Lance’s car handles,” Shiro pointed out.

“I’ll drive,” Katie volunteered. 

“You have had your license for two months, and this is a long drive, Katie,” Shiro shook his head, “I can drive.”

“Hey, it’s my car, and I’m the only one who is allowed to drive it. I don’t trust you yahoos,” Leandro yawned.

“I can drive,” Hunk said.

“Hunk, buddy, you’re not listening to me,” Leandro, whose eyes were still closed said, “she’s my baby, and I don’t want anything bad to happen to her.”

“Dude, you are asleep, and you’re being a complete freak about your car. You’re behaving like one of those dads who, like, rubs baby wipes on their cars,” Hunk reached for the keys, “I’m driving.”

Leandro fought, but being tired his reflexes were way too slow to even come close to matching Hunk, who managed to snag the keys out of Leandro’s clutching hand.

“Okay, announcement,” Leandro called attention to himself, “Hunk can drive. But nobody else. If I wake up and someone other than him or me is driving, I swear to God.”

“If you wake up and you’re driving, then we’re all in trouble,” Red pointed out. Shiro laughed. The five of them climbed into the car and it wasn’t before long that Red followed after Leandro and fell asleep. 

* * *

“You’re gonna kill us all!” someone shouted. Red snapped awake, and in doing so hit her head on the roof.

“Oh my god what is wrong with your car?” Hunk demanded.

“Oh, calm down. We’re all alive and safe” Leandro said.

“Safe may be an overstatement,” Shiro groaned.

“What happened?” Red asked.

“Oh, no big, Lance tried to kill us,” Hunk yelled.

“I saved a deer, though,” Lance seemed chipper, “and we’re like, five minutes from the house, if you were wondering how long you were out, Red.”

“I slept for sixteen hours?” Red rubbed her head where she’d smashed into the ceiling. 

“Yeah. Hunk says you were, like, out like a light like right after I was. It was weird. I’ve never seen you sleep for that long,” Leandro answered.

“Sitting up. In a car, like a complete weirdo,” Katie added.

“You missed some interesting developments,” Shiro said.

“Hunk threw up,” Katie boasted, “straight out the window.”

“Drank like half a bottle of mouthwash trying to get rid of the smell,” Hunk confirmed, “which Shiro begged me not to do.”

“He was doing shots like it was fucking whiskey,” Leandro said.

“Katie found out she can burp the entire opening monologue from the bee movie,” Hunk continued, “it was gross.”

“You’re gross,” Katie sneered.

“You’re gross,” Hunk echoed, “I love you.”

“I love you!” Katie smiled. Red had no idea what the hell was going on.

“Sounds like I missed a lot,” Red marveled.

“Shut up, all of you,” Leandro commanded, “we’ve arrived.”

The car pulled into the cobblestone driveway. The windows were slightly cracked, and they could smell the ocean air. It was dark, but they could see the outline of the blue house in all of the photos.

“I’m home!” Leandro yelled, getting out of the car, “I’m home I’m home I’m home!” 

The rest followed out of the car, and felt like they had forgotten how to stand up. 

“Pins and needles, pins and needles,” Katie chanted, her legs shaking like that of a baby deer.

Hunk and Shiro carried in most of the bags, being the strongest of them. Leandro took a deep breath before inserting the rainbow colored key into the lock.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made an illustration look at it look at it i want all of you to look at it


	3. Riptide

The house looked dark from the outside, but the first thing Red noticed when they opened the door was a soft glow coming from the kitchen. The second thing was that, when she heard the door open, the woman in the kitchen raced over as fast as she possibly could. 

“My Leandro,” she smiled and threw her arms around her son. Leandro was struggling not to cry as he hugged his mother tightly. Red looked at the ground. She felt like she was intruding on a private moment. 

“Good to see you, Ma,” Leandro grinned. He pulled away, “Guys, this is my mother, Julia. Mami, these are my friends.”

“Okay, don’t help me,” Julia approached the group to address them one by one, giving hugs to those who wanted them, and handshakes to those who seemed uncomfortable with the idea. 

Julia pulled Red into a hug without hesitation. The sudden touch was unfamiliar, but not unwelcome. Red placed a hand loosely on Julia’s back. They pulled away. It was a good hug.

“Now, where’s Penny?” Leandro asked, “And don’t tell me she’s sleeping, because last I checked she’s nocturnal.”

“Despite my best efforts,” Julia sighed, “she’s probably just listening to music.”

“PENNY!” Leandro shouted down the hall. It wasn’t long before the sound of a door flying open and someone running was heard. Penny came into view, jumping into Leandro’s arms. 

“Leandro!” she matched his energy as he spun her around. 

“Good to see you, nena,” Leandro grinned.

“You’re gonna go deaf with that music so loud that you can’t hear your brother and his army of friends come in,” Julia scolded, though she was grinning ear to ear.

“Mami’s right, Pen,” Leandro set his sister back down, “you’ll end up with tinnitus like Diego if you keep it up.”

“Speaking of Leandro’s army of friends,” Penny ignored what Leandro and Julia said to come size his friends up, who were still petrified in the doorway. Leandro took the commotion as an opportunity to bring in the bags, and dragged Red along with him as his companion. 

“Dude, why are you dragging me out here instead of Hunk or Shiro?” Red asked. It was a fair question. Red was tough as nails, but she wasn’t the strongest of the group. 

“Well, you were asleep for most of the car ride,” Leandro said,

“Obviously. So?” Red crossed her arms.

“So I didn’t really get to brief you on some things,” Leandro continued.

“Uh huh, such as?” 

“Well when my mom...heard you were coming along, she might have, uh,” Leandro laughed nervously, “she might have gotten the wrong idea about our relationship.”

“What?” Red practically shouted.

“She got it in her head that I, well, have a crush on you. And believe me. The harder I relented, the harder she believed.”

“How did she get that from, like, us being roommates who barely know each other and generally don’t talk?”

“Because you’re a girl my age and when I told her I was bringing you along she said something about how the beaches and sunsets here are, like, romantic or whatever.”

“Lance, I’m a lesbian. You know that,” Red pointed out, “and you’re-”

“Yeah, I know. And if you’re cool with my mom knowing that, I’ll tell her you’re gay and put an end to this whole thing. I just didn’t want to, like, out you.”

“Should I be nervous about her knowing?” Red worried her lip.

“Nah. My older sister is gay too,” Leandro explained, “and I know what you’re gonna say, and I swear I’m going to tell her at some point, but-”

“Lance, it’s okay,” Red interjected, “you don’t have to explain yourself. It’s a big thing.”

“Okay,” Leandro smiled, “thanks.”

“I’m okay if she knows, unless she’s gonna tease you about not having a girlfriend.”

“Oh, she definitely will,” Leandro laughed, “she’s a good person, really, she’s just one of those self proclaimed matchmakers that thinks they’re helping when they’re really just…”

“Nosy and weird,” Red immediately regretted her words, “sorry.”

“Nosy and weird is accurate,” Leandro pushed his glasses up, “I can deal with the teasing. I’m gonna be teased anyway. I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”

“Well, you know, it’s not exactly a secret that I’m gay, but I don’t exactly like drawing attention to myself. She’ll find out eventually,” Red answered finally.

“Cool, cool,” Leandro paused, “okay, one other thing.”

“Oh god, what?”

“Just…” Leandro sighed, “you’ve probably guessed by now that my real name is Leandro.”

“Yes.”

“I’m fine with all of you calling me Lance at school, but my mother doesn’t know that I go by an Americanized name.”

“She doesn’t know?”

“Well, I’ve never really needed one before,” Leandro explained, “most of the population here is hispanic. But then I went to school in Portland, and I thought I was gonna die if someone else called me Leanne-droh. I’m fine if people can’t pronounce it but like. It’s like they don’t even try.”

“Oh,” Red furrowed her brow.

“I don’t want my mother to think I’m ashamed of my heritage. I’m really not. I’m very proud to be Cuban. I’m very proud of my name,” Leandro continued.

“Got it, Leandro,” Red nodded, “I’m pronouncing that right?”

“Yup. You’ve got a pitch perfect Spanish accent,” Leandro marveled.

“I was born in southern Texas,” Red explained, “and my mom was half Colombian.”

“Well, that’s one more thing I didn’t know about you,” Leandro smiled.

“Well, we’re totally nailing getting to know each other,” Red looked at Leandro in the glow of the porch light. He was handsome. Very handsome. He had this warmth about his demeanor that Red hadn’t gotten a chance to know yet. She wanted to. She really wanted to. 

The two of them made a competition of who could carry the most bags at a time. It was a foolish game. They managed to carry all the bags in one go. Red won, by the way. When they got back inside, Shiro, Katie and Penny had already gone to bed.

“Party’s over?” Leandro asked. 

“Just for the night. I caught Katie yawning and I had to send her and Penny off,” Julia explained.

“Yeah, and then Shiro passed out because he’s an old old man,” Hunk shook his head, “I’m probably ready for bed, too, but Julia said we’re sharing.”

“You don’t mind, do you?” Julia asked, “sharing with Hunk, I mean.”

“Of course not,” Leandro waved a hand, “as long as Hunk’s cool with it.”

“Yep,” Hunk yawned. 

“I’m sending both of you to bed as well,” Julia stood from her chair, “come with me.”

“I can show Hunk where my room is well enough on my own, Ma,” Leandro rolled his eyes.

“We’re all going the same direction,” Julia pointed out. The four of them made their way down the hall of the house. She quietly opened the door at the far left and turned on the light.

The room was spacious, records and a player on one side and an easel with paints on the other. Lots of posters for girl groups, mostly rock bands, that Red didn’t know but wanted to.

“Did Rose take any of her crap when she left?” Leandro asked.

“New bed when she moved in with her fiancee,” Julia explained, “and she’s letting me use it as a storage room so the two car garage can actually fit two cars.”

“Ah,” Leandro touched one of the posters. He had missed his sister so much.

“Leandro tells me you’re an art major, Red. Feel free to help yourself to my supplies,” Julia gestured to the easel, “the bathroom is through that door there, and if you want extra blankets there’s about a million stacked in the closet.”

“Thank you,” Red smiled. She was gonna be up for a while, having had just slept for ten hours, but she didn’t mind. The room had a nice energy to it.

“You’re very welcome, Dear,” Julia didn’t hug her again, but placed a hand on Red’s shoulder, “have fun.”

Julia closed the door and turned her attention to the attic, staring the door down.

“What’s the matter, Ma?” Leandro tilted his head.

“Well, you know, I used to jump and pull the cord, but,” she pat her knee.

“Oh my gosh Mami I am so sorry. I forgot all about your surgery!” Leandro furrowed his brow.

“Please do not fuss over me. I just have a bit of a harder time getting up that damn ladder,” she laughed, “but you already said you were capable of showing Hunk yourself.”

“That I am,” Leandro smirked, pulling the cord and then the ladder.

“Goodnight boys,” Julia grinned, “I am so pleased to have both of you here!” 

She gave Leandro another hug and headed to her own room. Leandro and Hunk climbed up, Leandro first because it was pitch black up there. He felt his way around for the cord to the many strings of bright cyan lights. 

The room had two identical halves, one various shades of blue and green and purple and the other reds and oranges, split dramatically down the middle with a line of multicolored duct tape.

“The bathroom is over there, and, uh, you could probably guess which half of the room is Carmen’s and which one is mine,” Leandro explained, “Carmen doesn’t mind. I checked.”

“Hm,” Hunk squinted, “alright.”

“What’s the matter?” Leandro asked.

“Well, uh, I’m just not sure how I feel about sleeping on a stranger’s bed,” Hunk said, “I could go investigate the couches.”

“Hunk, asere, my ride or die, my best friend, you have no idea how much my mom would just completely lose her shit if she found out one of our guests slept on the couch. I’ll go downstairs and sleep on the couch.”

“I’m not making you sleep on the couch in your own home,” Hunk protested, “I’ll sleep on your sister’s bed. It’s fine.”

“I don’t want you to have to do that,” Leandro said, “I mean, there’s always….”

“There’s always what?” Hunk asked.

“Nevermind. Forget it. I’ll sleep on Carmen’s bed,” Leandro looked at his shoes.

“Dude, that’s ridiculous. What were you going to say?” 

“Bro,” Leandro tilted his head. Oh.

“Well, I mean,” Hunk coughed, “we can. If you don’t mind, I mean. I’m more comfortable with that than with kicking you out of your own bed.”

“I don’t want to make you uncomfortable,” Leandro furrowed his brow, “I mean…”

It was too quiet. Entirely too quiet.

“It doesn’t. I mean, I’m not,” Hunk answered. Then it was quiet again. 

“Okay,” Leandro sighed.

“Okay,” Hunk smiled.

The two of them got ready for bed and they were too tired by the time they reached the bed to continue being awkward. Leandro did, however, put extra pillows between the two of them. Hunk didn’t want to say he didn’t have to do that, he would feel guilty about that. He felt guilty either way. 

Leandro passed out almost immediately. Hunk was somehow too tired to sleep. He stared at the ceiling and tried as hard as he could to think about anything other than what he was trying not to think about. He failed. 

Hunk didn’t know what to do. And yeah, he was certain Leandro wouldn’t be a jerk about it if he told him. Leandro could be arrogant and stubborn, but he was not a jerk. He was one of the sweetest people Hunk knew, really. 

The only things he did know were that he was not straight, which had been no secret. He had known that since the summer before college. But now he was actively having feelings for his best friend. Of all the guys to have a crush on. He was in trouble. He was definitely in trouble. 

* * *

Leandro and Hunk were the first of the guests to wake up in the morning. They crept down the ladder. Julia was in the kitchen.

“Thank god, Leandro, get your skinny ass over here,” Julia commanded.

“Ma, you’re not at the restaurant. You don’t have to be tough to get me to cook,” Leandro rolled his eyes and walked over to his mother.

“Well not right now,” she said, “listen, I wish I could take more time off for work. But the restaurant really needs me right now. When I’m at work today, Penny is going to be your hostess.”

“That reminds me, what are we doing today, exactly?” Leandro reached into the fridge. 

“I thought it would be nice for you all to go to the beach and see Allura,” she smiled, “I haven’t told her you’re here yet. She’ll be so thrilled.”

“Is she still working at the surf shop?” Leandro asked.

“She sure is. And she’s been talking about a grudge match between the two of you since you left for school.”

“Good. I’ve missed surfing so much,” Leandro began picking utensils out of the cabinets and drawers.

“Pancakes?” Julia asked.

“Hashbrowns and eggs, too,” Leandro said, “I’ll make breakfast. You’ve gotta get ready for work.”

“Thank you, Mi cielito, you have saved the day,” she kissed his cheek and waved to Hunk.

“I didn’t know you cooked,” Hunk said.

“Oh, yeah. I love cooking,” Leandro didn’t look up as he whisked ingredients together. 

“You want any help?” Hunk asked.

“I mean, yeah, that would be great,” Leandro said, “since when you cook?”

“I don’t, really, but I’d like to learn,” Hunk answered. 

“Okay. You can start putting bread in the toaster,” Leandro smiled at Hunk.

“Dude, that doesn’t even count,” Hunk protested.

“Crack four eggs in that mug,” Leandro corrected.

“Yeah, better,” Hunk happily joined in, even though cracking eggs was barely a step above making toast. Leandro started a pot of coffee for himself and his mother and got to work. He was a cooking machine. And, well, good thing he was with seven mouths to feed.

Julia raced up the stairs already dressed for work, but she stopped dead in her tracks at the kitchen.

“Leandro, these pancakes smell delicious,” Julia hovered over the finished batch of french toast and pancakes, “I wish that I could have some.”

“I made you a to-go order,” Leandro handed her a tupperware and a thermos of piping hot coffee, not even looking up from the sizzling skillet.

“Thank you,” Julia kissed him on the cheek, “you have done a wonderful job, but you are behaving like me during rush hour.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?” Leandro raised an eyebrow.

“It’s a good thing if you are in the middle of rush hour. But Cielito, cooking for your family is supposed to be a joyous activity,” Julia wrapped her arms around her son, “by all means, help around the house is always welcome. But this is your vacation, and I want you to have fun.”

“I will, Mami. Have a good day,” Leandro smiled. Julia said goodbye to Leandro and Hunk and raced out the door, and Leandro, as per his mother’s suggestion. It wasn’t long before Leandro loosened up.

He began moving to the beat, gently at first and then faster for the fast songs. His whisking and pouring was still lightning fast, but it had rhythm now too. 

Leandro was a spectacular dancer, Hunk already knew that. Back at school, he loved partying and dancing. But something about him was different today. He was completely giddy. This house, this town, the ocean just a little ways away. Leandro wasn’t just moving to have fun, he was letting the music take control.

“I didn’t know you could dance like that,” Hunk chimed in, almost involuntarily.

“What are you talking about? I dance all the time,” Leandro spun as he cooked.

“Yeah, but this is different. You’re like,” Hunk paused, “wow.”

“Thanks, man!” Leandro said in a singsong voice. 

“I could never do that,” Hunk continued, staring down the eggs cooking in the skillet like they were particularly challenging economics homework.

“Sure you could,” Leandro argued, “it’s really easy. You’ve just gotta feel it.”

“Leandro, I’m not really a dancer,” Hunk gripped the counter with fierce intensity. He met Leandro with wide eyes.

“Everybody’s a dancer,” Leandro said, holding a hand out for Hunk to take, “besides that it’s an excellent confidence booster. I’ve danced my whole life, and, well, look at me.”

“Leandro,” Hunk warned.

“I won’t force you to if you don’t want to. But you’ll never know if you don’t try,” Leandro looked at Hunk with completely unfair puppy eyes.

Hunk thought about it for a second. It did look like a lot of fun. But he wanted to put a little bit of space between himself and Leandro while he figured this thing out. That wasn’t exactly fair to Leandro, who would definitely pick up on Hunk being weird and distant. He sighed, and took Leandro’s hand.

“I’m definitely gonna fall, and when I do, I’m going to destroy all these pancakes, and possibly start a fire,” Hunk was babbling. He had nothing to be afraid of, at least in the department of dance.

“It’s really easy. Start by marching in place,” Leandro instructed.

“Like this?” Hunk asked. 

“Yeah, and then just, instead of marching, just shift weight from one leg to the other, like this,” Leandro demonstrated, and Hunk followed, wobbling all the way through.

“I feel like I’m doing this all wrong,” Hunk furrowed his brow.

“You’re doing fine. Just a little stiff. It’s all in the hips,” Leandro didn’t dare correct Hunk’s stance, fearing accidentally making him uncomfortable, But Hunk managed to loosen up regardless.

“All in the hips,” Hunk mumbled, staring very pointedly at Leandro’s cheek trying not to gaze dramatically into his eyes.

“See? You’re a natural,” Leandro grinned, melting away whatever intentions Hunk had to keep the distance, “one two three four five six seven eight one two three four five six seven eight.”

“What are you, a dance instructor?” Hunk’s crush in no way hindered his ability to tease Leandro, which was good considering there was no way he wouldn’t notice that.

“Stop being a smartass and step to the side a bit, keeping your footwork the same,” Leandro was very passionate about dance. It was just another thing that was so quintessentially Leandro. Leandro spun Hunk and danced around him with ease, his hand on Hunk’s back and an ecstatic expression on his face.

* * *

The drive to the beach was a short and mostly filled with complaints about the strong smelling sunscreen Shiro was attempting to spray everyone down with. Leandro hung his head out of the window like a dog, which would be concerning if he didn’t for once relent control and let Penny drive his car.

“Well, here we are,” Penny grinned as she took the key out of the ignition. 

The group flew out of the car as fast as they could, racing away from Shiro.

“I’m not putting on that oldass smelling perfumey sunscreen, Grandma. The stuff Leandro packed works well enough,” Katie knocked the sunscreen bottle out of Shiro’s hands.

“Katie!” Shiro protested, picking it up, “Fine then. But don’t come crying to me when your skin isn’t as silky as mine.”

“Shiro does have the best skin out of all of us,” Leandro marveled.

“Who needs perfect skin? Acne gang rise!” Katie shouted, climbing onto the hood of Leandro’s car.

“Katie god damn it get off of there!” Leandro grabbed her and slung her over his shoulder, 

“We don’t have time for another coat of sunscreen anyway. We have some waves to catch,” Penny pointed out.

“Nice try, Nena,” Leandro said, “Ma already told me that you’re not allowed to go in the water today.”

“Damn. I should have never snuck out,” Penny shook her head.

“You mean you should have never gotten caught,” Leandro corrected, setting down a disgruntled Katie, “I’m disappointed in you. I thought I raised you to be a better teenager than that.”

“Yeah yeah,” Penny rolled her eyes, “but it’s not fair for you all to go surfing while I’m stuck back here, all by myself.”

“I can hang back,” Katie chimed in, “I’m more interested in the beach than the water.”

“What could possibly be more fun than swimming?” Leandro asked, ready to disown his sister for this blasphemy.

“Sandcastles,” Katie answered, “I read there’s a contest next Sunday, and I want them to know that I’ve come to take them down.”

“I could do sandcastles,” Penny smiled, taking Katie’s hand. 

The two of them raced off, leaving the other four to their own devices.

“You guys are gonna love Allura. She’s like my sister. I mean that. We’ve been tight since before we were born,” Leandro was walking faster and faster each second, “she’s like the coolest girl I know.”

“She sounds great,” Shiro beamed, putting on his sunglasses.

Leandro grinded to a halt at the entrance of a small building just a high tide away from the beach. The bell rang as they opened the door, the smell of sunblock and coconut oil overwhelming the air. Neon trees blasted through the speakers.

“Sorry, just a second,” the clerk shouted from the back room. Leandro nudged Hunk to keep up the surprise.

“That’s fine, take your time,” Hunk shouted back.

“Sorry guys, I’m having a pretty busy week what with spring break and-” she cut herself off when she saw Leandro.

She hopped the counter and pulled Leandro into a hug. 

“Good to see you, Allura,” Leandro squeezed her tightly.

“Gave me a fucking heart attack is what you did,” Allura pulled back and just stared at Leandro, “I’m never speaking to Ma and Pen again. They didn’t even tell me you were coming.”

“Oh, you know Ma. She loves surprises,” Leandro touched one of the surfboards hanging on the wall.

“You guys look so much better in person,” Allura approached the gang, “I had no idea Leandro was gonna drag half his school down here.”

“You think you could take an hour or two off for an old surfer’s grudge match?” Leandro asked, messing up Allura’s curly pink hair.

“Oh totally,” she turned on her heel to face the back, “hey Nyma!”

“I’m up I’m up,” a girl out of view yawned.

“I’m taking a break. Watch the front for me, would you?” Allura leaned over the counter as the other cashier stepped groggily out of the back storage room.

“Yeah, okay, you owe me one though,” she crossed her arms.

“You’re the best!” Allura grinned.

“Does it really count as a break if you’re gonna be teaching people how to surf?” Nyma raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, yeah, right,” Leandro turned to face his friends.

“I can surf,” Hunk announced, “I can help Red and Shiro. You guys have some catching up to do.”

“He’s the best. Didn’t I tell you Hunk is the best?” Leandro slung an arm around Hunk.

“Yeah, thanks Hunk, you rule!” Allura was barely containing her excitement, “Okay, let’s surf!”

* * *

In the time it took for Penny to use the bathroom, Katie had already managed to encase herself in sand.

“Okay, what was the thought process here?” Penny tilted her head. “Be the sandcastle before you build it?”

“Nah, I’ve just always wanted to do this,” Katie answered.

“How did you even do this?” Penny sat down on the sand to face Katie, “Like, you are completely covered except for your head. How did you do that without arms?”

“A magician never reveals his secrets,” Katie said, choking on sand at that very moment.

“Well, if these are your skills covering yourself in sand, you have the contest in the bag,” Penny said, beginning to form a pile of sand at her knees.

“What are you doing?” Katie asked.

“Solidarity, sister,” Penny answered, piling the sand up,

When she was finished, they looked like two enormous boobs in the sand, both definitions of the word applying. 

“How are we gonna get out of this?” Katie asked, suddenly acutely aware of how stiff her arms and legs were.

“Hm. We didn’t think this through,” Penny squinted, “well, Leandro and your friends should be back from surfing any time now.”

“They’re not gonna leave us at the beach,” Katie agreed, “but like, what until then?”

“We could play I spy,” Penny suggested.

“We are facing each other. What are we gonna spy?” as if pushed by some cosmic force, her glasses fell off of her face at that very moment.

Penny was silent, only the dramatic crashing of the waves to be heard behind them.

“Man,” Katie huffed, “I gotta pee.”

* * *

Leandro had really missed this. Allura, the sound of the crashing waves, the ocean spray. Even wiping out. He missed wiping out. He surfed like he danced. Like he did everything, really. Effortlessly. It was strange how it felt like he had never been apart from the ocean, like a piece of his soul was stuck back here in Cali. He could think of worse things.

Allura had never missed surfing for even a day, and it showed. She surfed like a pro, leaving the world behind as she ripped. She had always been the better surfer. She was always a good sport about it, too, she’d never brag or boast and when Leandro demanded rematches she was always more excited to take on a race than he was. 

One of Hunk’s favorite things to do was surf. He missed it when he moved to Oregon for school, and right now he was having trouble remembering why. It was perfect.

Shiro did not like surfing. That is all.

Red had never been, and she wasn’t allowed on the bigger waves just yet, but she could feel a piece of herself locking into place out there on the water. She could feel herself just cutting loose and having fun. For once she didn’t feel out of place and like she was trying to shoehorn herself in places she didn’t belong. Right now, she felt like she was exactly where she needed to be. Doing something that felt like it was out there waiting for her.

It was awesome.

* * *

“You guys were amazing out there!” Allura beamed as the five of them made their way across the beach, “especially you, Red.”

“Especially me?” Red stopped in her tracks. Allura was looking at her, and Red could feel her back tense and her face suddenly getting warm. Probably just a day in the sun of hard exercise suddenly catching up with her.

“Yeah, I mean, you’ve never been surfing before?” Allura asked.

“Nope,” Red answered, “I skateboard sometimes.”

“That would not even remotely help,” Leandro chimed in.

“Fast learner, I guess,” Red shrugged.

“Red’s a jack of all trades,” Leandro put his arm around her shoulder. It was strange, but it was nice.

“Well, in any case, you rocked it,” Allura smiled. Red thought she was going to fall over.

“Thanks,” Red grinned.

“Holy shit you’re smiling,” Leandro whispered.

“Fuck off, I smile,” Red punched Leandro lightly in the arm.

“Yeah, but not like you slept with a hanger in your mouth,” Leandro tousled her hair.

“Well, as much as I hate to do this, I should go help Nyma close,” Allura groaned.

“You’re a better person than I am,” Leandro said, “would Nyma do that for you?”

“Probably not,” Allura sighed, “I’ll be over for dinner tomorrow. And I’ll see about shorter hours for the next couple of weeks.”

“You’d better,” Leandro smiled. Allura extended fist bumps to everyone.

“Look at those idiots,” Shiro sighed, pointing to two large mounds in the sand, “they’re gonna freeze to death.”

“Where the hell are Katie and Penny?” Hunk squinted.

“Oh god, those had better not be our idiots,” Leandro groaned, racing for them.

“Oh thank god!” Katie shouted. 

“What the fuck are you guys doing?” Leandro demanded, already digging the sand off of them.

“Building sandcastles,” Katie answered sheepishly, “careful not to step on my glasses.”

“Oh my god. You guys cannot be left alone for two seconds,” Leandro was trying to scold, but he could barely contain his laughter.

“It’s not funny!” Katie glared, “A whole day at the beach completely to waste!”

“You’re not helping our case, there, Katie, because this definitely is hilarious,” Penny was free enough to stand, only to fall immediately back over, “pins and needles!”

“I’ll carry you back to the car,” Leandro sighed, scooping up his sister, “Hunk, would you mind carrying Katie?”

“This is humiliating,” Katie protested as Hunk lifted her, scooping her glasses up on his way.

“Yeah, well, you dorks should have thought of that before you buried yourselves in sand like idiots,” Leandro was now stifling laughter between words.

The six of them packed back into the car. It was, overall, a pretty successful day at the beach. Katie fell asleep on Penny’s shoulder on the car ride home. Red stared out the window at the beach as they drove away.

She couldn’t wait to get back in the water.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy crap this is a waaaaall  
> Special thanks to my two best fools who I have somehow tricked into thinking my writing is at all worth their time for consistantly bullying and berating me to write <3


	4. Heart to Heart to Heart to Heart

Leandro woke up in the middle of the night, restless. Hunk was still asleep, so he climbed out of bed as silently as he could possibly manage. He crept down the ladder to the attic to find his house pitch black.

He had lived his whole life in this house, and he could find his way through it if he had been blindfolded. He could see the ocean from the living room, sliding glass doors leading to the backyard, the moon reflecting off of it into the living room. 

Leandro sat down on the couch and sighed, and as he did he heard the sound of creaking coming from the kitchen. He jumped back up, nearly knocking a lamp off of the end table.

“Sorry,” Red whispered.

“What the hell are you doing awake?” Leandro asked, fearing the answer was some Red form of weird. He’d woken up to her before doing things that were so odd he couldn’t help but feel like maybe her last activity before joining him at school was escape some kind of bunker.

“I couldn’t sleep,” Red answered, stepping towards the sliding glass door, “I was gonna go on a walk.”

“Oh,” Leandro eased his shoulders, “do you mind company?”

“You want to go with?” Red asked.

“Yeah, I mean, if you want me to. Just so I don’t wake up before everyone else,” Leandro pulled at the drawstring of his sweatpants.

“Sure,” Red finished her drink and rinsed her glass before slipping on sandals and pushing open the door.

“Oh, you mean like right now,” Leandro stepped after her, “wait up, aren’t you worried that you’re going to get lost?”

“I have a better sense of direction than you do,” Red retorted, “sorry.”

“Don’t be. It was funny,” Leandro stepped in front of her, “why do you always do that?”

“Do what?” Red blinked.

“I mean, you’re always saying things and back tracking,” Leandro explained.

“You’re gonna break your leg if you keep walking backwards like that,” Red ignored him, “we’re walking through sand.”

“Yeah, alright,” Leandro rolled his eyes.

“I mean it. You’re gonna fall in a ditch, and you won’t be able to surf for the rest of the trip, not to mention I’d have to carry you all the way back to the house.”

“I’m not gonna fall in a ditch, Red,” Leandro scoffed.

“Uh huh,” Red smiled, “it’s probably a bad idea to go surfing right now, right?”

“Oh you would definitely die out there,” Leandro agreed, “you definitely would have done that if I wasn’t here, wouldn’t you?”

“Nevermind,” Red definitely was going to do that. 

“So, my mom has already started with the jokes,” Leandro had the changed the subject, “if you’re interested in hearing about that.”

“Whatever.”

“Such a conversationalist, aren’t you, Red?” Leandro laughed, “anyway, after dinner she kept saying how pretty you are.”

“Your mom thinks I’m pretty?” Red froze. That wasn’t exactly a first, but Julia was drop dead gorgeous. From photos, Red could tell that they all were.

“Yeah, that’s where it starts,” Leandro drummed his fingers along his arm, “then, she’s just on and on about how Diego met his wife when he was like ten years old.”

“Ten years old?” Red repeated.

“Yeah. Small beach town and all. Everybody knows everybody,” Leandro explained, “she doesn’t gush about how Rose met her fiancee, maybe not never but noticeably less. She even tells the story of how she and Dad met.”

“Your parents are still on good terms, right?” Red asked, hoping that she hadn’t misinterpreted the situation.

“Yeah, but they still aren’t, like, a love story for the ages.”

“Yeah..”

“When we were kids, my mom was so sure me and Allura were going to end up together. She didn’t stop until like, last year, and it was like, a whole thing.”

“A whole thing like how?”

“Eh…”

“Okay,” Red said, fearing she had stepped on a nerve, “I wasn’t saying you, like, have to talk about it.”

“I mean, it’s okay. We’re supposed to be getting to know each other and all. Deep dark secrets are good for that.”

“If you say so.”

“I mean, I’m not gonna tell you if you don’t want to hear it. I don’t want to, like, whatever.”

“You can, if you want,” Red looked away.

“Okay, then I will,” Leandro sighed.

“Okay.”

“We were supposed to come out together, me and Allura. At the beach bonfire last summer. But, you know, mom kept saying how cute we were together.”

“I hate that.”

“I know! And she kept saying how romantic it all was, the bonfire. I ended up chickening out.”

“Leandro, it’s not chickening out. Your mom wasn’t like,” she put on her best Shiro impression, “creating a supportive environment.”

“Yeah, but I mean, the thing is, Allura did. Allura told everybody. And everybody was so supportive. But I just couldn’t do it.”

“Wow...”

“I mean. We didn’t talk again until right before I went to school,” Leandro looked down, “we didn’t even talk about it. She didn’t want to. She just told me that she understood and she didn’t want to be mad at me anymore.”

“Jesus christ, I’m sorry,” Red put a hand on Leandro’s shoulder. It was an awkward gesture. Red wasn’t very touchy feely. Leandro smiled. It was well received.

“I mean, it’s okay. Just, last night, you said that I didn’t need to justify myself.”

“Which you don’t.”

“I felt the need to justify it to you because, well, I’m making up excuses for myself, too. It’s like if I can make myself understand why my parents don’t know, I don’t have to do it, and I don’t have to feel bad for what happened with Allura anymore.”

“Oh,” Red didn’t know what to say. 

“It’s like, fine. Well, not fine. But you know,” Leandro smiled, “I mean, at least I know, you know. I know they’re gonna be fine if and when I decide to do it. I just...it feels kind of like I shouldn’t have to. After Rose, I mean.”

“In general,” Red added.

“Yeah, in general,” Leandro agreed.

“I get it though,” Red furrowed her brow, “I mean, I didn’t come out until I hit college.”

“Oh that cannot be true,” Leandro laughed, “I mean how? How? You’re so sure of yourself all the time. How do you do that whole this is who I am and if you don’t like it fuck off routine?”

“I’m not sure of myself! Are you kidding me? What version of me did you meet? I have no idea how to behave like a person!”

“Oh,” Leandro paused, “well, you’re doing a better job than you think you are.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Leandro, who was still walking backwards, tripped over his ankle and began falling backwards. 

Red grabbed one of his flailing arms and pulled him back to his feet.

“Told you so,” Red rolled her eyes, “is your foot okay?”

“It’s fine,” Leandro said, “I mean, it will be better in the morning.”

“You should probably stay off of it until you can get it iced. Come here,” Red pulled his arm around her shoulder and braced his back with her other arm.

“Thanks,” Leandro said sheepishly.

“Whatever,” Red smiled.

“You know, you’re a pretty cool girl. I mean, I can’t believe we’ve lived together for so long and I never knew how cool you were.”

“Yeah, well, you’re pretty cool, too,” Red answered, “you know, when you’re not eating shit.”

“I did not eat shit.”

“Thanks to me,” Red turned her head to face him.

“Thanks to you,” Leandro turned his head towards her, “you know, my mom wasn’t making shit up.”

“What do you mean?” Red asked.

“You really are just, like, super pretty.”

“Oh that’s okay, you don’t have to-”

“I mean it.”

“Thanks,” Red flushed red. Leandro immediately had to diffuse the situation.

“If I was a girl I’d marry you right now.”

“Oh my god shut up,” Red laughed.

They walked, arm in arm back to the house, and watched a bad movie until they fell back asleep on the couches.

* * *

When Red woke up, she was surprised to discover she was up the earliest. This also meant she had slept the least, but she didn’t feel like she had missed any. Leandro was still asleep on the other couch. 

Red sighed, stretching her arms. She glanced at the clock. Seven am. Jesus christ, she thought, standing up. The beach wasn’t a long walk. She remembered Leandro said it wasn’t a good idea to surf alone. But he didn’t say anything about swimming. Red had some time to kill, and she felt weird about poking around Leandro’s house while he wasn’t awake.

She snuck out of the front door and practically sprinted toward the beach. She could smell the ocean. Red had always loved swimming. She finally skidded to a stop at the edge of the water. She was just about to start wading in when she heard a familiar Australian voice behind her.

“You’re going to freeze to death if you do that at this hour,” Allura said. Red jumped back. 

“It’s pretty warm out,” Red protested.

“It’s sixty two degrees. The water will be much cooler,” Allura leaned over and dipped a hand into the water, “cold as ice.”

“Alright, I won’t go swimming,” Red took a step back.

“It’s seven in the morning. Why would you even want to go swimming this early in the first place?” Allura asked.

“It’s peaceful,” Red shrugged, “didn’t sleep so great.”

“Me either,” Allura sat down on the sand, “I decided to come to work early so that I can finish earlier.”

“If you’re supposed to be working, what are you doing out here with me?” Red sat next to her.

“Uh, no reason,” Allura lied.

“You’re a worse liar than Leandro is,” Red observed.

“Okay fine,” Allura sighed, “I left my keys on the front desk. Nyma isn’t supposed to be here until noon, and my apartment is kind of a long walk just to come back here again.”

“Smash the window,” Red suggested. 

“Yeah, that seems like a plan,” Allura laughed. 

“I can get you in there,” Red made her way to the surf shack.

“Red, I was joking,” Allura nervously followed after her. 

When Red got to the shack, she pulled two bobby pins from her hair and bent them in half. She then stuck the pins into the keyhole and Red’s plan became clear to Allura. It wasn’t long before the door clicked, and Red managed to push it open.

“There you go,” Red stood up and shoved the now completely ruined bobby pins in the pocket of her shorts.

“Thanks,” Allura smiled, “how did you learn how to do that?”  
“You know, I’ve been around,” Red leaned against the doorway, “never know when that might come in handy.”

“I guess not,” Allura looked at Red, “oh, your hair.”

Red couldn’t see how out of control her hair was at the moment, but she could feel it falling in her face.

“You wouldn’t sell bobby pins here, would you?” Red asked.

“Sell? No. We do, however, have a metric ton of emergency hair accessories in the back,” Allura motioned for Red to follow her.

“It’s usually not this crazy,” Red mumbled, “I need a haircut. My bangs are too long.”

“Your bangs weren’t in bobby pins to begin with,” Allura raised an eyebrow, “it just needs some styling, anyway.”

“Styling?” Red’s makeover senses were tingling, and that meant she had to get out of there immediately.

“Yeah, just like,” Allura pulled out a hairtie, “I struggle with thick hair too, and it can be easier to do it like this.”

Allura reached a hand forward, and Red took a step back. What was with Leandro’s friends and family and being super touchy?

“Sorry,” Red mumbled.

“Don’t be. I’m sorry, Penny Rose and Julia like me to do their hair and I just sort of acted on reflex,” Allura looked down.

“It’s okay,” Red put her hands in her pockets, “you can, if you want. Show me how to style it, I mean. I don’t really know how yet since I’ve like, just grown it out.”

“Alright,” Allura took a step forward, “so one of my favorite hairstyles is a ponytail with the bangs clipped back.”

“My hair isn’t really long enough to do the ponytail thing,” Red explained.

“Well, maybe it’s just stubborn,” Allura furrowed a brow. She pulled four hot pink barrettes out from underneath the desk and handed two of them to Red, “it’s easier if you do your bangs first.”

Red clipped back her bangs and followed what Allura was doing closely. Allura explained that shorter hair that doesn't want to go up was easier to maneuver if you split your hair in half and did a half ponytail first. 

“Thanks,” Red tugged at her new ponytail. She liked having the hair off of her neck. Her hair had never been in a ponytail before, at least, not a successful one, “well, I guess I should get back to the house before everyone wakes up.”

“Okay, well, tell Leandro I’ll be by around noon,” Allura was busy hooking her music player up to the speaker. Red escaped, wondering just exactly why her chest was pounding so hard. She raced back to the house, which didn’t help even in the slightest.

* * *

“What the hell are you guys doing?” Leandro asked as he entered his sister’s room and instantly regretting it.

“We’re gonna see exactly how much bubblewrap I have to wrap Katie in before I can effectively hit her with a baseball bat,” Penny answered, and Leandro closed his eyes, wishing he had not asked. He closed the door and instead headed towards the living room, where Julia was sitting.

“Leandro, we were so busy last night, I never want to move again,” she complained.

“You shouldn’t be working as much as you are,” Leandro sat down beside her, “you need to be giving yourself breaks.”

“Cielito, I am the head chef of a very popular restaurant. It wouldn’t be fair of me to give myself a vacation every time my son came home,” Julia pointed out, sipping from the most enormous mug Leandro had seen in his life.

“You know that’s not what I mean, Mami,” Leandro tilted his head, “you work five days a week, you’re the first to arrive and you’re the last to leave.”

“Leandro, we’re not having this conversation,” Julia stood up.

“Nena has told me that you don’t even change out of your uniform before passing out on the couch some nights,” Leandro continued.

“Leandro, I’m thrilled that you’re home. But I’m not gonna let you come into my home and tell me how to run my life because you’re worried about me,” Julia crossed her arms.

“Yeah, okay,” Leandro rolled his eyes. If he had said the same thing, there’s no telling what his mother would do to him. 

It had been a lazy day, Allura’s coworker had called in sick and it was looking like she was gonna have to try to close early both to make it to dinner and prevent going into overtime. And the rest of them mostly laying around from a long couple of days. Hunk was in the attic reading, Red in the corner scribbling in her sketchbook, Shiro playing solitaire because nobody else knew how to play blackjack. 

“It’s five forty,” Julia’s eyes widened at the clock, “I didn’t notice how late it was getting. I need to start cooking.”

“Mami, I’ll cook. I’ll have Hunk help me,” Leandro put a hand on his mother’s shoulder, “you shouldn’t have to cook on your day off.”

“I shouldn’t get used to this kind of help,” Julia shook her head.

“Ma, come on,” Leandro stood up, “I just need a head count and I can make dinner happen on time. Are Rose and Diego and the kids coming over?”

“Just Rose and Claudia,” Julia answered, “it’s gonna be them tonight, then Diego and the kids tomorrow night. Rose is Tuesday Thursday Saturday and your brother is Monday Wednesday Friday.”

“Never together?” Leandro furrowed his brow, “They didn’t...”

“No, Leandro, I’m afraid not,” Julia looked sad then, putting her chin in her hands.

“I just don’t understand. They’d rather take shifts than see each other? If we just put them in the same room together and made them work it out-”

“No, Leandro,” Julia stood now, placing a hand on her son’s shoulder, “you know how those two are. If you try to get them to talk, you’re bound to just make them dig their heels in the dirt.”

“This time seems different though,” Leandro sighed, “I don’t know. I’ve never seen Rosie that upset.”

A loud knock on the door interrupted their talking, and Julia welcomed the excuse.

“We can talk about it later, yeah?” Julia kissed his cheek without waiting for an answer and opened the door.

“Hi!” Allura greeted, carrying a dish, “I know you guys don’t like it when we bring our own food, but I thought I’d bring macarons because they’re Leandro and Rose’s favorites.”

Red shut her sketchbook and shyly smiled at Allura, who grinned back.

“Oh, you are an angel,” Julia pulled Allura into a hug. 

“Good thing you did,” Leandro took the dish from her and placed it on the counter, “looks like we need as much as we can get.”

“You guys haven’t started dinner?” Allura grimaced, “I’d be happy to lend a hand too.”

“I don’t know anything about cooking,” Red approached them, “but I bet I’m not, like, awful at it.”

“See, Ma, we’ve already got three master chefs on it,” Leandro put one arm around Red and the other around Allura.

“What are we making, exactly?” Allura asked.

“Rose is Rose, so it needs to be something vegetarian,” Leandro narrowed his eyes.

“If we start now, we can get some stuffed peppers going,” Allura suggested, “if you have the ingredients for that.”

“Perfect!” Leandro’s eyes lit up, “okay, stuffed peppers with macarons is kind of an odd combination, but Rose and Claudia don’t listen to the don’t bring food rule anyway, at least Claudia never did.”

“Since my son isn’t letting me cook,” Julia very pointedly folded her arms, “I’d be willing to supervise and help you with some pointers.”

“Yes!” Leandro gleamed, “Alright everybody, we have less than an hour before Rose and her fiancee get here. So Let’s! Get! Cooking!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to make this a bit of a chiller chapter because SO MUCH is gonna happen the next couple of chapters. Don't worry, they'll be longer too. I hope you guys enjoy, I think I'm really getting a hang on my characterization. xoxoxo


	5. Hell is a Family Barbeque

Julia had a line put together almost instantly. Red was on coring peppers, Allura was cutting up vegetables, and Leandro was sauteing as Julia read instructions aloud off of a beat up note card from the basket in the pantry. 

“Okay, the next thing you need to do is,” Julia paused, “Cielito are you sure you don’t want help?”

“Ma, we do not have time for this,” Leandro squinted, “Allura, how many ingredients do you have ready?”

“The celery is done but the pepper tops are gonna be another second,” Allura shuffled over with the entire cutting board and managed to scrape them in without everything toppling over. 

“That’s fine, great,” Leandro shook the pan.

“Leandro, why are you freaking out?” Allura asked, chopping now faster than before, “we have plenty of time.”

“We have forty two minutes,” Leandro corrected, “twelve, really to prep. Thirty of that forty two is the oven and simmering time.”

“Leandro, what did I tell you about having fun?” Julia set the recipe basket down, “it won’t taste good if you’re not enjoying yourself making it.”

“Ma, that’s superstition,” Leandro rolled his eyes.

“Don’t you scoff at me, cooking is a love language. Do you know how much better my food tastes because I put delicate care into it? You’re behaving like you’re on Chopped Chef,” Julia scolded.

“Ma, that’s not...” Leandro sort of half laughed, “fine. Maybe I do need to have more fun with it.”

“Every time I have to teach you this lesson, I lose a day off my life, I swear I do. I wouldn’t have this many grey hairs if you listened to a single word I said,” Julia folded her arms.

“Julie is right,” Allura pulled the music player out of her pocket, “I can hook this up.”

“Thank you, Allura,” Julia kissed her cheek, “yes, please, liven up this place. This is a home, not a factory.”

Allura hooked her music up and it wasn’t long before she was chopping along to the peppy beat and singing softly along.

“Here we go again I kinda wanna be more than friends,” she sang.

“Allura, keep chopping. That is a knife and you’re using it like a microphone,” Leandro eyed her nervously.

“Compared to the knives I have at work, that knife is a joke,” Julia chimed in.

“Ma, stop encouraging her,” Leandro scolded.

“Come on Leandro, you know the words,” Allura egged him on, “you know you want to.”

“At least use a whisk, please, for my health,” a smile crept across Leandro’s face, though he tried to fight it.

“Here we go again We're sick like animals We play pretend,” Allura continued chopping along.

“You’re the worst singer I’ve heard in my entire life,” Leandro grinned.

“Rude! You're just A cannibal And I'm afraid I won't get out aliiiive,” Allura spun the pepper tops over to the pan.

“No!” Leandro shouted.

“I won’t sleep toniiiight,” Allura added the other ingredients and covered the pan to simmer.

“Oh oh I want some moooore,” Leandro took her hand.

“Oh oh what are you waiting foooor,” Allura spun Leandro around. She was taller than Leandro, so she was always leading.

“Come on, guys, if I have to do it then so do you,” Leandro winked at Hunk. 

Hunk shrugged and began dancing with Katie. Neither of them had much rhythm, but that only made it more fun. Julia paired up with Penny. That left Shiro, who was vehemently protesting as he was dragged out of his chair. 

“Leandro, no, I’m not gonna,” Shiro dug his heels in as Leandro dragged him straight across the kitchen towards Red.

“I’m not doing it if you’re not,” Red gripped the counter for dear life. 

“Come on guys, for me?” Leandro put on his best puppy face. Shiro sighed and began dancing with Red.

“I do it every time You're killin' me now And I won't be denied by you The animal inside of you!” Leandro was grinning ear to ear now, 

Sure, Allura Leandro Penny and Julia were the only ones who really knew how to dance, but that didn’t matter. They were all having way too much fun to care how stupid they looked.

And it was epic.

* * *

When Rose and Claudia arrived, the house was abuzz with music and lively energy. They knocked on the door and Leandro raced towards it so fast that he almost ate shit tripping over his shoelaces.

“Rosie! Claud!” He flung the door open with such ferocity it nearly shook loose the knick knacks on the shelf beside the doorway.

“Leandro! Que Vuleta? How’ve you been?” Rose wrapped her arms around Leandro so hard that it would not have been surprising to hear bones snapping.

“I’ve been good Ro, how are you?” Leandro hugged her back, tight.

“Well, I’m sure you’ve heard,” Rose pulled back, “Claudia and I got engaged!” 

“I heard, congratulations!” Leandro beamed. He looked like he was going to start crying, “Nice to see you, Claud!” 

“Hey Leandro,” Claudia grinned, brushing a lock of curly black hair out of her face.

“Come in, meet my friends!” Leandro practically dragged her in by the wrist, “Claud, Rose, meet my friends, Shiro, Red, Katie and Hunk.”

“You really dragged half your school out here, didn’t you?” Rose laughed, “It’s very nice to meet you all.”

“Rose, we’ve heard so much about you!” Shiro reached out his hand to shake.

“Yeah, I’ve heard quite a bit about you myself,” Rose shook his hand with a grin.

“I haven’t heard nearly enough,” Leandro said, “You’ve been engaged half a year and I still haven’t heard the story? That’s unacceptable.”

“Why don’t we sit down first?” Rose spun a chair at the long table in the dining room to sit in. 

“Good idea. Hunk, would you mind helping me plate this?” Leandro asked.

“Just so you know, using cooking show terms does not make this process more fun for me,” Hunk began walking over.

“What would make this more fun for you, Asere, putting a party hat on you? Giving you a noisemaker?” Leandro teased.

“You are obnoxious,” Hunk shook his head, but he couldn’t help smiling.

“You know you love me,” Leandro grinned, handing him a plate.

Allura sat at the bar next to Red, squinting profusely. She smiled at Hunk, but because of the squinting it looked more like she was attempting to smile directly into the sun.

“Alright, plates have been served, cokes have been poured, now I’m very interested in hearing this engagement story,” Leandro was becoming impatient.

“Alright,” Rose sighed, “well, we had been dating for four years at this point.”

“Well, I know that much,” Leandro chimed in.

“Your friends do not,” Rose pointed out, “anyway. Four years. Exactly, pretty much. And I had absolutely no idea how to propose. Absolutely no idea.”

“She thought she was so slick, too,” Claudia absentmindedly spun her engagement ring, “watching romcoms trying to get an idea, scribbling in her little secret notebook.”

“Anyway,” Rose rolled her eyes and laced her fingers with Claudia’s, “it finally, finally hit me. I remembered that when we first started dating, there was this shop we saw in town. And in the window, there was this jewelry box.”

“It was exactly like the one my grandmother bought me when I was little, well, almost. Mine had roses and this one had sunflowers” Claudia explained, “we lost it in a flood the year I graduated high school.” 

“She showed me pictures and I must have looked on thousands of websites trying to find the one. And I never could,” Rose grinned, “but I did take woodshop in high school. And well, it wasn’t perfect.”

“Rose, don’t be modest. I couldn’t have pictured it more perfect,” Claudia protested.

“Well, thank you, love,” Rose grinned, “I spent weeks making it. And on our anniversary, I gifted it to her with one piece of jewelry inside.”

“When I opened it and saw the ring, she asked me to be her wife,” Claudia did the look-at-my-ring gesture, not a real diamond of course but instead a red glass jewel.

“Wow,” Leandro was smiling ear to ear, “that’s so...wow.”

“The wedding is gonna be this August,” Rose continued, “a small ceremony of course, reception at the house as insisted by Ma. Which reminds me, Leandro, I have a very important question to ask you.”

“Whatever it is, I’m in,” Leandro said with the most intense expression on his face.

“I’d like you to be my best man,” Rose locked eyes with her brother, “nothing would make me happier.”

“Wow, are you sure?” Leandro didn’t even notice or care he’d knocked his soda over in excitement.

“Absolutely positive. That is, if you want to,” Rose said.

“I would love to,” Leandro smiled,

“Awesome!” Rose couldn’t hug him across the table, but she messed up his hair.

* * *

For the next couple of hours, it was the Rose and Claudia show. Rose telling stories about her teen delinquency, worst tattoos she’d ever had to do, stories about how she’d made a fool of herself in front of Claudia. Claudia, was however, quite a bit shyer about boasting the way Rose did, but she was apparently a nurse practitioner who was beloved by many children at the hospital because of her looney tunes scrubs and her rainbow stethoscope.

The rest of the night mostly chilled the hell out, Claudia Julia Rose and Shiro playing canasta at the table while the rest talked among themselves. Allura and Hunk were cleaning the kitchen as Leandro cleared off the dining room.

“So, you’ve been taking care of Leandro since he’s been at college?” Allura asked, breaking the silence.

“Yeah,” Hunk answered, “he’s always been this maddeningly annoying?” 

“Hey!” Leandro shouted as he placed the last of the dishes in the sink, “If by annoying, you mean devilishly charming.”

“Devilish, yeah, that’s one way to describe it,” Allura teased, “but so am I. That’s why we’re friends.”

“Oh, yeah, Allura and I were absolutely pure evil,” Leandro wrapped an arm around her.

“But we were cute so we got away with it,” Allura continued.

“Still are, and we still do,” Leandro grinned. Allura rolled her eyes.

“Congrats on being the best man,” Allura said, “I forgot to congratulate you earlier.”

“Yeah,” Leandro’s smile faded, “hey, do you think that Diego knows that-”

“Nope,” Allura punched his arm lightly, “Hunk, do you mind finishing the dishes? I need to talk to Leandro.”

“Uh, sure,” Hunk locked eyes with Leandro as he made a for the love of god please help me look. Allura began dragging him towards the attic, of course not before washing her hands.

“Allura, let go of my arm, you’re being crazy,” Leandro protested as she pulled down the ladder.

“Nope, we’ve gotta go,” Allura pointed up and Leandro begrudgingly complied. Allura closed the door behind them to avoid making a scene.

“Why did you drag me up the stairs?” Leandro asked, a little afraid she was going to completely destroy him.

“Alejandro Rivera-Cruz, are you out of your freaking mind?” Allura threw her hands up, “You know better than to mention Diego in Rosie’s presence!”

“Oye chica don’t yell at me!” Leandro held up his hands, “Would you tell me what the hell is going on between Rose and Diego?”

“Okay, alright,” Allura sighed, “I guess you wouldn’t know.”

“Yeah, because when I ask, everybody clams up!” Leandro defended.

“We do not gossip in this house. You know that,” Allura narrowed her eyes, “but the fact I know and you don’t makes me uneasy, so…”

“Allura, I just want to know that my siblings are alright,” Leandro said, “It’s been nine months. I’ve never seen them stop talking for this long.”

“Okay,” Allura agreed, “I’ll tell you. The short version, so Rosie doesn’t notice we’ve been gone forever.”

“Okay,” Leandro sat on Carmen’s bed.

* * *

“So, they abandoned you over here?” Red asked, grabbing a washcloth.

“Pretty much,” Hunk answered, “I don’t mind, though.”

“Well, I’m helping anyway,” Red insisted, beginning to scrub a spot of what-the-hell-is-that on the counter.

“Can I ask you a question?” Hunk asked.

“You sort of just did,” she pointed out.

“You know what I mean.”

“Yeah, I do,” Red admitted, “sure.”

“Do you ever feel like, you know, like someone is just looking right through you?” Hunk asked.

“Like, in a sixth sense kind of way?” 

“What? Emotionally,” he responded.

“Uh, give me a for instance,” god what the hell WAS this on the counter?

“Like, say you like someone,” Hunk continued. Uh oh, Red thought.

“Okay.”

“Say you and this person are like, really close, and you’re thinking to yourself, like, wouldn’t it be great if we were together? But they look at you, and they care about you, but it’s like they don’t see the way you feel and they could never feel the exact same way?”

“That’s an extremely specific for instance,” Red observed, “and yeah, I mean, a couple of times.”

“Really? How did you deal?”

“Uh, I didn’t. I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I don’t like feelings and I avoid dealing with them at all costs,” Red explained, “don’t do that.”

“Okay,” Hunk laughed, “sorry I just. You know, there’s not really anyone else that I can talk to about this.”

“I mean, why not Leandro?” Wow, that sounded extremely insensitive, thought Red.

“Mm,” Hunk went silent. He went silent for a very long time. It took a second for it to click.

“Oh,” Red said, then more silence.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know why I’m dumping this all on you. You and I haven’t even known each other that long,” Hunk chuckled nervously, “it’s just that, you know, since we’ve known each other, you make me feel, I dunno, calm.”

“Yeah?” Red’s cheeks felt warm.

“I should just, like,” Hunk began walking for the door, but Red put a hand on his shoulder.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Red smiled, “I’m honored.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I mean, I’ve never had a friend, like, come to me with that sort of problem. So I might be bad at responding to it. But you can like, talk to me about that. I don’t mind.”

“Are you sure? Because Katie also knows and like, she’s like still a kid so it’s a little-”

“Hunk. Dude. It’s cool.”

“Thanks,” Hunk smiled. It was quiet for a minute after that. But it was nice this time. 

“Guys!” Penny burst through the door, “Claudia and Shiro are arm wrestling!”

“Okay, I’ve gotta see this,” Hunk said as Penny raced back out the door. 

“We can talk later, I mean, if you want,” Red started the dishwasher.

“Yeah, that would be good, I think.” Hunk smiled warmly. 

* * *

“Diego’s just. He’s very smart, but he always thinks he knows what’s best,” Allura continued, “and Rose, she doesn’t take very well to his suggestions.”

“I know,” Leandro furrowed his brow, “they’re both so stubborn. They’re always getting into fights like that.”

“This time, though, it was different. Diego and Claudia got into it a couple of times and well, he didn’t like her as much as Rose would have liked. And well, Diego meddles.”

“Uh oh,” Leandro leaned forward.

“He kept planting thoughts in Rose’s head, things like her and Claudia were too different. He picked at their differences, you know? And the worst it got was right before you came home for winter break that Diego flat out admitted he didn’t think she and Claudia should get married, and well, it escalated from there.”

“Jesus,” Leandro flopped over, “I knew Diego and Claud weren’t each other’s favorite people but I didn’t know it was like that.”

“I’m probably missing some details. Rose came over to the shack the night it happened and she was crying so hard. She didn’t want Julia to see her like that, and well, me and Rose are like sisters.”

“We should probably get back down there. I’ll call you later though, if you promise not to meddle,” Allura warned.

“I promise,” Leandro sighed.

When they got back downstairs, everyone was shouting and crowded around the dining room table. As they walked closer, they noticed that Shiro and Claudia were arm wrestling with matched energy.

“Shiro pulls ahead with stellar technique, but looks like Claudia still has more fight in her!” Penny was talking in a sports announcer voice, shouting into a spoon as her microphone.  
“Go Shiro!” Hunk and Red shouted.

“Kick his ass, Babe!” Rose cheered.

“Claudia pulls ahead, it looks like Shiro is starting to struggle and...SHE DID IT!” Penny jumped up, “It’s been an intense match, but looks like Claudia takes home the gold tonight! Claud, is there anything you want to say to the little girls watching at home?”

“Arm wrestling rules!” Claudia answered.

She gave a round of high fives to everyone, and fist bumped Shiro.

“Good game,” Shiro smiled.

“You too. You’re a lot of fun, Shiro,” Claudia grinned.

“Alright, well, it’s been fun, but we’ve gotta go,” Rose picked her helmet and jacket off the back of her chair.

“Ah Baby, I was just starting to have fun!” Claudia protested.

“I know, Love, we have to meet with our planner. We’ll see everyone day after,” Rose handed Claudia her helmet and waved everyone off, “well, it’s been so cool to meet all of you.”

“You can leave now if you promise to go with the azaleas!” Julia chimed in. 

“We’ll see,” Rose leaned down to give her mother a kiss on her forehead.

“And drive safe!” Julia added as they opened the door.

“Never!” Rose yelled back.

It had been a good night.

* * *

Leandro sort of felt weird about sharing a bed with Hunk. It wasn’t that Leandro was gay and he was weird about expressing affection with guy friends. He was just beginning to get over that, and if it had been an issue, he never would have let it happen in the first place.

And it wasn’t just sharing a bed, but sharing a room, sharing everything. Hunk was all weird and nervous and smiley lately, but Leandro didn’t think that was why he was feeling so weird. 

It was all Hunk’s talk about wanting a boyfriend, because he babbled when he was nervous, that, for some reason, put a pit in Leandro’s stomach. 

It was dancing with Hunk in the kitchen, sleeping on his shoulder on long car rides, it was going out to eat with him and linking arms when they walked. It was picking out music that reminded him of Hunk. It was watching movies every night together and brushing hands reaching for popcorn and fixing Hunk’s hair for him. Everything was great, and then it was fine, and now it was weird. Why was it weird? What the hell was going on? 

This was completely unacceptable and Leandro had to get to the bottom of this, but right now he had a family barbeque to get ready for.

When he was done getting dressed, he started for the kitchen, and ran into Red. Like, literally crashed straight into her, sending them both falling on the hard linoleum. 

“Motherfuck, Leandro!” Red shouted, “Jesus. I mean, are you alright?”

“I’m okay,” Leandro answered, standing up, “you?”

“Ugh. I’m having a morning,” she took his outstretched hand and pulled to her feet. Leandro now took notice of Red’s outfit. A red sundress that tied at the back and combat boots. Her hair was pulled into a ponytail and decorated with several small pink hair clips.

“Wow, you look…” Leandro paused, “like, awesome.”

“You don’t have to say that,” Red nervously tightened her ponytail.

“I mean it. You look great,” Leandro smiled.

“Thanks,” Red didn’t know what to say, but she could tell he was being sincere, “you too.”

“I don’t look like a 45 year old accountant?” Leandro asked.

“Two things: first, what the hell does that even mean? Secondly, I don’t know any forty five year old accountants that wear Marina shirts,” Red pointed out,

“Are you guys ready? We’ve gotta go!” Julia poked her head in through the garage door, 

“Jeez, Ma, don’t start loading the car without us!” Leandro grabbed Red’s wrist and raced for the car.

* * *

“Leandro and company!” Diego answered the door, “Good to see y’all. Come in!” 

He wore a white kiss the cook apron and his long black hair was gelled and pulled into a ponytail. 

“Good to see you, bro!” Leandro shouted over the loud music blaring through the speakers.

“Allura’s already out back filling up balloons with the twins, I’m sure she’d love some company her own age. Teresa’s in the kitchen with the baby, trying to make dessert with one hand,” Diego didn’t really introduce himself, as he was hoping his cheat sheet would come in handy.

“The twins?” Penny grinned, grabbing Katie’s wrist, “come on, let’s get you acquainted with los demonios gemelos.”

“Penelope, don’t call your niece and nephew that,” Julia scolded her.

“Why, what does it mean?” Diego asked.

“Tia Penny!” The twins shrieked as she opened the sliding glass.

“I’m gonna save Allura. Hunk, if you want to come,” Leandro nudged Hunk with his arm.

“I’ll help out Teresa,” Julia turned to Shiro, “I’ve been told you like to bake?”

“Yeah, I’d love to help!” Shiro beamed.

Red silently resolved to follow Shiro into the kitchen.

“Oh, hello!” Teresa greeted, “you must be Red and Shiro. Nice to meet you. And nice to see you Julie!”

“Nice to meet you!” Shiro reached out a hand, then retracted it, as her hands were busy, “If you want help, I love to bake.”

“Thank you both so much. Shiro, if you wouldn’t mind stirring the frosting over there in the red mixing bowl, that would be a big help. Just combine the ingredients next to it.”

“Of course,” Shiro made his way to the counter.

Julia didn’t need to be asked, she just began dicing carrots like a madwoman.

“Thank you!” Teresa turned to face Red, “I’m not sure if I could find a job for you, but you don’t have to help if you don’t want.”

“Oh I-” Red’s voice was interrupted by grave and loud shrieking.

“Talia Marie Cruz, don’t feed your brother dirt!” Teresa yelled, “Red, can you hold Isabela really quick?”

“I-” but again, before she could answer, Teresa handed her the baby and zipped off to tend to the twins, and to scold Penny for not keeping a better eye on them.

Oh god, Red was holding a baby, and she had no idea how to escape.

* * *

Allura found her sitting on the bench in the front doorway, holding the baby, looking terrified.

“Are you okay?” Allura asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine, I just. I don’t really hold babies. It’s good though, I like it,” Red said unconvincingly.

“Do you need help escaping?” Allura asked.

“Yes please,” Red answered. In one fell swoop, Allura picked the baby up and handed them off to a passerby, Shiro, who loved babies.

“There you go,” Allura smiled.

“Thanks,” Red stood up.

“Between you and me, I don’t really like holding babies either,” Allura grabbed her arm, “come on, I need a break.”

“Where are we going?” Red asked.

“You’ll see,” Allura smiled. As it turns out, Allura was leading her out of the window of the second story bathroom and onto the roof. Red struggled to find footing. Despite her constant insistence they were, Doc Martens weren’t exactly all terrain shoes.

“Here,” Allura took her hand and steadied her balance. Red struggled to look anywhere but Allura’s face.

“Thanks,” Red sat down, still holding onto Allura’s hand subconsciously.

“I come up here sometimes when I need a break,” Allura explained, “I love them all very much, but they’re a lot, you know?” 

“Yeah,” Red answered. Allura was watching the clouds move. She was so pretty, and funny, and cool, and she was on the roof alone with Red, holding her hand. Red thought she’d better say something.

“Can I ask you a question?” Allura turned back to face Red, who was trying very hard not to fall straight off of the roof. 

“Yeah, what?” Red held back her sarcastic answer to the question.

“What is going on with Hunk and Leandro?” Allura asked, looking down at the backyard.

“What do you mean?” Red shook away whatever she had been thinking, what she wasn’t quite sure of.

“I mean, are they dating?” Allura asked.

“No, why?” Red thought back to the conversation she’d had with Hunk. She had to be nonchalant, for his sake.

“What do you mean why? Look at them!” Allura gestured towards the yard, where Leandro was dipping french fries into ice cream, head resting on Hunk’s arm.

“I dunno dude, I’m a lesbian, and I’m not that great with people anyway. I don’t really notice stuff like that,” Red shrugged. Allura suddenly became very self conscious of the fact they were holding hands, and pulled away. 

“I don’t know,” Allura sighed, “I just figured, like, I’m not gonna meddle or anything, that would be weird, it’s their responsibility to sort shit out if they do like each other, which I’m not saying they do, but I was just wondering like, because they’re so joined at the hip and all flirty that maybe they’re in a relationship and just didn’t want to tell Jules, which is fine, by the way.”

“Are you breathing in between sentences?” Red asked.

“No,” Allura laughed, “I mean. I don’t know. Me and Leandro used to talk about that stuff all the time, and then suddenly it stopped. And I think it’s because he still feels guilty about not coming out when I did, which I’m so totally over by the way, and-”

“Oh my god you’re deflating like a balloon. Please breathe. You’re terrifying me,” Red laughed.

“I was just wondering if, like, maybe you knew anything?”

“Nope, and even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you. Sworn to secrecy,” Red answered.

“Yeah, that’s reasonable. Leandro is lucky to have you as a friend,” Allura smiled, “I’m glad you and I are becoming friends, too.”

“Yeah,” Red couldn’t help smiling like there was a hanger stuck in her mouth.

“Allura! Get the hell down from there! You’re gonna break your neck!” Diego yelled from below.

“I guess we’d better get back,” Allura sighed.

“I guess so,” Red agreed.

“We’ll climb onto the front next time so Dad down there doesn’t see us,” Allura suggested, grabbing Red’s hand to guide her back up to the window. The words felt heavy in her head.

Next time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got into a fight with my brothers over what a fashionable gay guy like Leandro would wear to a family barbeque. I don't know what business shorts are, but I'm terrified.


	6. Alone Together

Penny, surprisingly, woke up before anyone else did. Or at least, so she thought. She rolled around on her bed, trying to fall back asleep, even though she was no longer tired. She groaned as quietly as she could to avoid waking Katie and climbed out of bed. 4:30 am, the clock read as it blinked back at her. 

There were a lot of people in this house to just be aimlessly stumbling about and causing trouble, the way she usually did. Her mom slept in the finished basement, god bless her for soundproofing it, so she usually spent as much time as possible playing keyboard and painting until her mom got up.

She wasn’t allowed to go surfing alone. She’d gotten busted for it as recently as last week, foolish enough to think that Julia wouldn’t ground her just before Leandro was coming into town. She looked at the sliding glass door of her bedroom longingly. She was so close to being able to go surfing again, just another day and her mom would set her free. She couldn’t risk sneaking out now.

Penny was good at getting away with things. The baby of the family, sneaking out while Penny was preoccupied with Diego and Rose’s feud or Rose’s wedding or Carmen’s traveling adventures. She was practically a magician with how easily she could slip out and come back without anyone ever noticing. 

She had gotten worse at it though. Sloppy. She was the worst teenager ever, if that wasn’t already evidenced by the fact she was up at four in the morning. She was also hungry, and when she was hungry she couldn’t think, so she made her way to the kitchen. 

Sitting at the bar with a cup of coffee was Shiro, the only person out of his mind enough to be awake voluntarily earlier than eight. Even this seemed a little bit over the top. She approached him with a lot of caution.

“Oh, morning,” Shiro greeted her cheerfully. Penny froze.

“How did you know I was behind you?” She asked.

“Uh, I could hear you?” Shiro shrugged. Penny was now extra confused, but she was too hungry to care if Shiro had actual eyes in the back of his head,

“Well, anyway, good morning,” Penny walked past him and through the door to the kitchen.

“What are you doing awake?” Shiro asked, sipping from his, well, Carmen’s actually, dogs playing poker mug.

“Couldn’t sleep,” Penny grumbled, reaching in the cabinet above her, “and you’re awake because…”

“Couldn’t sleep,” Shiro echoed.

“Why not?” Penny asked, now climbing onto the counter to get the cereal she wanted.

“I don’t know,” Shiro sighed, “I guess I just have trouble being away from home.”

“Oh yeah?” Penny dropped the box she was holding on her way down, not only getting marshmallows and those weird brown bits everywhere, but resulting in a loud crash, “FUCK!”

“Let me help you with that,” Shiro put down Carmen’s mug and went to assist Penny with cleanup.

“Thanks,” Penny smiled at him as she grabbed the broom from next to the fridge. It was supposed to be in the laundry room, but nobody ever put it in the laundry room. It was needed in action too often, plus Penny was lazy.

“Sure,” Shiro took the broom from her.

“Oh you don’t have to do that,” Penny tried gripping the broom harder, but Shiro was, like, shredded, and she weighed ninety pounds soaking wet.

“It’s fine. Actually, I love cleaning,” Shiro snapped off the dustpan and handed it back to her, “it’s very relaxing.”

“You what?” Penny absolutely couldn’t believe her ears. 

“That’s probably the mildest reaction I’ve gotten from saying that,” Shiro laughed, “I don’t know, I guess it’s soothing.”

“You’re a strange person,” Penny narrowed her eyes. Still, she thought he was cool, and she felt the strangest need to impress him. Maybe it was that he was the oldest, and she felt sort of a cool uncle vibe radiating off of him, or maybe it was because she longed for connections with gay people outside of Claudia or Rose. She and Allura were close, but not in the same way.

“How did cereal get on the counter?” Shiro asked, half baffled and half impressed.

“I didn’t used to be this clumsy,” Penny groaned, “I swear I have no idea what’s wrong with me.”

“Maybe you’re having nerves about something,” Shiro suggested.

“Nerves?” She repeated. What could she possibly be having nerves about? Her internal monologue was interrupted as Leandro crashed down from the attic.

“I heard a crash, is everyone alright? Did the power go out? What’s happening? Somebody say something so I can echolocate. And if you’re a burglar, we have absolutely no valuables so get out!” He frantically waved his arms about.

“Leandro, everything’s fine,” Penny assured him.

“If everything’s fine, why is it so dark in here?” Leandro flipped the light switch on and off to no avail.

“Because you still have your sleep mask on, you weirdo,” Penny answered, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh,” Leandro laughed sheepishly as he pushed the mask off of his eyes, “in my defense, I was panicking.”

“That’s not the first time I’ve heard that excuse,” Penny shook her head.

“What time is it?” Leandro asked.

“It’s four thirty,” Shiro answered.

“Four thirty? What the hell are you guys doing awake making so much noise?” Leandro whisper shrieked as if he hadn’t already been freaking out and making as much noise as they were.

“Couldn’t sleep,” Shiro and Penny answered.

“Well, I’m going back to bed,” Leandro yawned, reaching for the ladder behind him. 

“Now that we got the cereal cleaned up, I’m gonna make myself a bowl,” Penny announced.

“Would you mind passing me cereal?” Shiro asked, reaching into the other cabinet for a bowl.

“Sure, what’ll it be?” Penny opened the door further to showcase their truly ridiculous collection of cereal for just two people living in a house together.

“Froot loops,” Shiro said, not sponsored, by the way.

“Froot loops it is,” Penny passed him the box.

* * *

By the time all the normal people got up, Julia had already left for work, supposedly working late because of some dessert fiasco she had to fix and some new employees she had to train. It was always something at that restaurant.

Penny, unfortunately, had been roped into babysitting Tallie Lucas and Isabella while Diego and Teresa were determined to track down a new table after The Incident. One would think that the more incidents that occured with Penny present, the less they would want her to babysit, but that was clearly not the case. They were going to the big furniture store with a food court and the mile long wall of rugs, so they were definitely gonna be all day.

Meanwhile, Rose called to cancel dinner because she and Claudia were going to meet with their wedding planner and no, Leandro couldn’t come along as much as he for some odd reason wanted to.

This is what led the five remaining household members to mostly lay on the floor watching old Disney D-Coms that Leandro and Carmen mostly had accumulated over the years.

This was not something that Allura was expecting to walk in on, but she did, and she was horrified at the sight.

“What are you guys doing?” Allura asked.

“What, is that some kind of trick question?” Leandro asked, his head dangling upside down off the couch, “We’re doing nothing.”

“Alright, well, why are you doing nothing?” Allura rolled her eyes.

“Ma went to work and Penny is over at Diego’s babysitting and Rose is meeting with her wedding planner for some kind of flower emergency,” Leandro explained.

“Well, doesn’t that make you the host?” Allura pointed out, “You’re telling me you spent over a thousand dollars flying your friends out here and you’re just gonna do stuff you can just as easily do at home?”

“Don’t judge me,” Leandro said, “It’s actually kind of relaxing to be spending one of my vacation days, like, actually relaxation. We’re having a movie day.”

“Movie day. Perfect!” Allura beamed, pulling out her phone.

“Oh, god, she’s been activated,” Leandro pulled himself up.

“We have a drive in theater right here in town,” Allura explained, “they’re showing When Harry met Sally later tonight. We’re going, but we have to be quick because it’s on the other side of town and it starts in an hour.”

“You think you can just show up in my house and boss me around?” Leandro asked.

“I’ve been doing it for eighteen years,” Allura responded.

“Ooooooooooooo,” Hunk and Katie chimed in.

“Well, I think if I sit in this position on the couch for much longer, it’s going to eat me, so I’m in,” Shiro stood and stretched.

“Sounds cool,” Red shrugged, closing her sketchbook.

“Oh I’m so there. I’ve always wanted to go to a drive in,” Katie beamed.

“I’m in too,” Hunk grinned.

“You’re all traitors,” Leandro dragged himself off the couch, “okay, fine, even though we could just as easily watch that movie here.”

“It’s about ambiance,” Allura insisted, “now, y’all can do what you need to do to get ready and I’ll be waiting here.”

“We’re all dressed!” Leandro pointed out

“Actually, I think I’ll go take a shower,” Shiro chimed in.

“Okay, you think you could be ready in…” Allura checked her phone, “fifteen minutes?”

“Sure,” Shiro shrugged, headed for Diego’s old room.

“Alright, Leandro, I require your assistance jam packing this evening with fun and surprises,” Allura grinned, tugging on Leandro’s arm.

“Cool, cool,” Leandro yawned, “you know I’ve already singlehandedly planned like five days of this trip, right? It’s not like I just put my friends on a plane and told Pen and Ma to entertain them.”

“I know, Leandro,” Allura looked at her phone.

“You just wanted to be included, didn’t you?” Leandro grinned.

“Alright, you’ve caught me. I closed up shop a little early just to rush over here,” Allura beamed, “now, pizza or cheeseburgers afterwards?”

“Uh, well, me and Katie are kosher and a burger without cheese is like a party without balloons, and Hunk is a vegetarian,” Leandro narrowed his eyes, “plus, I’ve been craving garlic knots from Luigi’s since I left. Ma’s been spoiling me with home cooked food.”

“Well, lucky for you I absolutely do not feel like helping you prepare a three course meal. I have no clue how Jules does it,” Allura shook her head, “okay, Luigi’s is open till midnight as per spring break hours. Are we getting frozen yogurt or ice cream after?”

“Is that even a question, Allura? Frozen yogurt,” Leandro said, adding “thank you for planning our night for us.”

“My pleasure,” Allura put her phone back in her pocket, “are the rest of you all ready?”

“Actually I dropped my uh, one of my bracelets on the ground in the kitchen and I need to...find it. Red, will you help me find it?” Hunk was spiralling out of control.

“Uh,” Red said, but he was already taking her by the arm into the kitchen.

“Sorry,” Hunk said, slamming the door behind them.

“Dude, what the hell?” Red asked.

“I’m sorry I just, I need to talk to you about Leandro,” Hunk answered.

“You had all day!” Red pointed out.

“Yeah, well, you’ve kind of been joined at the hip all day,” Hunk said.

“We have not,” Red scoffed, she had, however, sat next to Leandro and made fun of movies with him all day long.

“Well, anyway, I need to talk to you, if it’s okay,” Hunk looked at her with a face of pure panic. She sighed.

“Okay,” Red folded her arms.

“So, I’ve been crushing on Leandro for, I dunno, a while, and I’ve had it mostly under control,” Hunk began pacing rapidly around the kitchen,,

“Right, you look like someone who has their shit in order,” Red responded.

“This isn’t funny, Red,” Hunk glared at her.

“Sorry. I’m not trying to mock you,” Red bit her lip. Why had he chosen her to confide in instead of someone who knew how to do stuff like this.

“It’s okay,” Hunk sighed, “it’s alright. I’m just frazzled.”

“Yeah,” Red left off the ‘I can tell’ she would usually tack on.

“But something about being on this trip, something about the beach and the atmosphere and the sharing a bed-”

“Sorry,” Red cut in, “you’re sharing a bed with a guy you have feelings for?”

“It’s complicated, there’s a pillow barricade between us,” Hunk put his head on the counter, “anyway, it’s been getting progressively worse.”

“Worse?” Red raised an eyebrow.

“Well, I think he’s noticed me acting weird,” Hunk furrowed his brow, “I think he can tell that something’s up, he just doesn’t know what.”

“Uh oh.”

“Yeah. I don’t know. Last night at the barbeque, something happened,” Hunk ran his fingers through his hair, “we were in the kitchen cleaning up, and, well, our hands touched. I didn’t mean to, but I sort of...jumped backwards.”

“Did a cartoon slide whistle sound effect play?” Red had let a sarcastic remark slip out. She almost instantly tried to apologize, but Hunk laughed this time. Maybe she was getting better at this.

“Well, I dunno, he’s been kind of standoffish since. I think...I hurt his feelings,” Hunk hung his head low.

“Oh.”

“And I was gonna like, apologize to him tonight, even though I have no idea what I’d say. ‘Hey sorry I’m suddenly uncomfortable with physical affection, I’ve discovered I’m madly in love with you’? Like, I don’t even know how to. God. Ugh. Whatever.”

“Yeah.”

“I was sort of...thinking about telling him tonight,” Hunk continued, “I don’t know how much longer I can take him not knowing what’s going on with me. Or being this jumpy and weird around him. And if it’s starting to interfere with our friendship, then I should use that as an excuse to deal with it.”

“Really? Hunk, that’s great!” Red put a hand on his shoulder.

“I made him...a mixtape,” Hunk reached into his pocket and sheepishly pulled out a flash drive, “I was gonna give it to him tonight but now we’re doing the drive in.”

“And you’re not gonna be able to get him alone with a car full of people and because he’s joined at the hip with me,” Red squinted.

“Yeah,” Hunk sighed, “I don’t want him to go another day thinking whatever it is he’s thinking, but…”

“I could help you get him alone,” Red suggested, “maybe I could...distract them.”

“Distract them how?” Hunk asked.

“Well, we’ve got a drive in, pizza and frozen yogurt. Plenty of time to figure it out. And in the meantime,” Red handed him her phone, “here. Put me in so you can text me if you need anything.”

“Thanks, Red, you’re a really good friend,” Hunk smiled.

* * *

At the drive in, they got as many snacks and drinks as could physically fit in the car. The movie started, and Harry and Sally were off being absolute repressed freaks. They only got to the casablanca argument before Red’s phone began to vibrate in her pocket.

**At 6:15 pm, Hunk said**

**He’s avoiding eye contact.**

**At 6:16 pm, you said**

**Hunk, we’re watching a movie. Relax.**

**At 6:16 pm, Hunk said**

**No, I swear to god, he’s like sweating over there trying not to make eye contact with me. He hasn’t even looked down at his snacks. There’s popcorn all over him.**

**At 6:18 pm, you said**

**Well, try reaching for some popcorn. Maybe smile at him while you’re reaching for it?**

**At 6:18 pm, The Grimace (Shiro) said**

**Red, turn your brightness down. Wtf are you doing over there? Trying to signal ships?**

**At 6:18 pm, you said to The Grimace**

**Sorry**

Red put her phone back in her pocket and looked at Hunk. Him and Leandro were in the front seat. He didn’t even turn his head when Hunk reached for popcorn. This was madness. Harry and Sally were too good for this. 

She looked over at Allura, and caught her just in time to see her staring back. Allura quickly looked away, and Red wasn’t sure how she was going to avoid bursting into flames. Okay Allura was looking at her, that didn’t mean she was LOOKING at her. Red reached for her licorice vines.

They all managed to enjoy the movie, who wouldn’t, but it took on a specific hold on Katie, who had never seen it before. Watching good romcoms with a group of gay people was an epic experience, and one that they were all sure to force on each other again.

* * *

“Okay, we’ll have three large pizzas, one super cheesy explosion gooey pie, one pepper panic pie and one macaroni surprise, three orders of garlic knots, and six regular drinks,” Allura stood at the counter, squinting through the glass at Luigi’s specialty pizza. 

“That’ll be fifty four ninety,” the cashier squeaked.  
“I can chip in. Or just pay for the whole thing. You shouldn’t be paying,” Leandro fussed.

“Leandro, you’re my best friend, I haven’t been here in over a year because I don’t go without you. I’m paying for the pizza,” Allura insisted.

“Those are three separate statements you’re trying to pass off as one point!” Leandro protested as she handed the cashier the money.

“Anything for my favorite guy,” Allura handed him three of the cups.

“Thanks again for paying, Allura,” Shiro grinned, “you’ve saved our whole night.”

“Glad to be of service. Word of advice, don’t drink too much soda or you won’t want frozen yogurt after,” Allura said.

“Thanks for the tip,” Shiro grabbed a cup from her.

Leandro sat between Allura and Hunk. Hunk smiled at him, and Leandro smiled back. It was an olive branch. Hunk sighed with relief.

“You guys are gonna love the pizza,” Leandro gushed, “best pizza in the entire galaxy. Me and Allura used to get it before after and sometimes during drive ins, so we’re reviving an ancient tradition.”

“Not that ancient!” Allura protested.

“Yeah, like, last june was the last time. That’s almost a full year,” Leandro argued.

“Oh, right,” Allura sort of sunk in her chair.

“Well, anyway,” Leandro smiled at Allura, “it’s good to be back.”

Red heard the chime of her phone and sighed as she took it out. She had a feeling it wasn’t another one of those delivery emails.

**At 9:10pm, Hunk said**

**Do you think you could create an excuse to get Leandro outside? I don’t want to make a scene.**

Red sighed, placing her phone back in her pocket. She couldn’t lie, she liked helping her friend. It made her feel nice to do it. But this many text messages? Shiro would be grilling her about how she secretly had a girlfriend within the hour.

“Hey, Leandro, would you mind grabbing me a couple of hair ties out of the car for me?” Red asked. 

“You’ve got legs,” Leandro said, though he was standing up.

“I’ll go too,” Hunk followed after him, “you know, if Red doesn’t mind me stealing one myself.”

“Knock yourself out,” Red shrugged. Leandro’s shoulders slumped. It was a barely noticeable change. They pushed through the front door.

“Hey, Leandro,” Hunk stepped in front of him, “can I talk to you?”

“Oh, uh, sure,” Leandro was caught off guard, “what about?”

“Well, last night. I brushed your hand and I jumped back?” Hunk could hear the nerves in his voice.

“Right, that,” Leandro looked away.

“I want you to know that, like. You know, you and me have always been sort of affectionate,” Hunk continued, “and I want you to know that I just. I don’t want us to stop being, you know, us.”

“Oh,” Leandro’s cheeks felt warm. He didn’t understand why they kept doing that, “well, I’m not gonna lie, I have noticed you being a little jumpy lately.”

“Yeah,” Hunk worried his lip. Here we go, he thought.

“I thought maybe I was doing something wrong,” Leandro frowned, “I don’t want you to think that just because I’m gay, and because you’re figuring yourself out, that I think of you as like…”

“I know, Leandro,” Hunk put a hand on his shoulder.

“Because you’re my best friend,” Leandro said, “I would never want anything to get in the way of that, or mess it up.”

“Hey,” Hunk looked at him, “hey. I love you. Nothing would ever change that.”

“I love you too,” Leandro smiled, “now. Let’s get those hair ties before Shiro thinks we’ve been hit by a bus.”

“Okay,” Hunk let go of his shoulder and Leandro made his way to the car. He reached into his pocket. The flash drive was still there, but it definitely wasn’t the right time now. Maybe it never would be. 

Hunk was going to get worse until he told Leandro, he knew that much. He couldn’t put it off forever, much as he was trying to let his cowardice take hold and shield him. But for tonight, and maybe just for tonight, being best friends with Leandro was good. Maybe it was perfect.

* * *

“Three pies and three garlics,” The cashier announced nasally. How the fuck was he holding that with just two arms, Leandro wondered. A round of thank yous went around the table as he expertly set them down.

“Here’s your tip,” Leandro handed the man a few crumpled up bills and silently hoped his arms weren’t burned.

“Twenty bucks? Wow, thanks!” The cashier beamed.

“Hey, I worked three years at this place. I’ve seen some things. You deserve it, man,” Leandro smiled.

“Oh man, my condolences,” his tone went from excited back to jaded at the drop of a hat, “you know they make you say this. Thank you for choosing Luigi’s authentic Italian pizzeria, no affiliation to the nintendo character and any mascot resemblance is purely coincidental, enjoy.”

“Saying that a thousand times a day could break the kindest man,” Leandro shuddered, “you remember, Allura?”

“Oh yeah,” Allura groaned, “what’s worse were the buttons. Have you ever tried to take a fifteen minute break but your eighty four pins are stuck to your shirt under your apron but you’re not allowed to take the aprons outside with you?”

“Sounds like a nightmare,” Katie agreed.

“Well, first jobs are like that. I don’t know a single person who didn’t hate their first job,” Shiro chimed in.

“What was your first job?” Leandro asked.

“I worked at this cute little department store that only elderly people seemed to shop at back home. I had to help an eighty year old man out of a two sizes too small speedo once,” Shiro gazed dramatically in the distance.

“I worked at a movie theater. People leave dirty diapers in there. They give you a blowtorch,” Red joined in.

“I worked at a petstore and I got in trouble killing a lot of sales with people trying to buy a two gallon for a betta and stuff,” Hunk shook his head.

“I still work at my first job. Breakfast buffet. I’ve seen things,” Katie’s eyes widened. 

“It gets easier,” Shiro shrugged, “I mean, the work doesn’t, but you get used to removing your soul from your body when you clock on.”

After hands had been washed and most horrifying customer stories had been swapped, they dug into their pizza. And good lord, it was some of the best pizza to ever pizza. Katie wanted to cry into the crust. Hunk was having a religious experience with the garlic knots. Shiro didn’t even like pizza and he felt like that scene in ratatouille with the grape and the cheese. Red would kill a man for this aioli.

“Oh my fucking god,” Katie said, “oh my god.”

“What did I tell you!” Leandro grinned.

“Why have you DONE this to us? We can’t get pizza like this back home,” Shiro groaned. 

“Can I get you guys some boxes?” asked the cashier.

“Sure! Thanks!” Leandro smiled, “I hope you guys aren’t too full for delicious frozen yogurt!”

* * *

College students in a frozen yogurt place were just like little kids in the candy store, so they pretty much scattered like roaches. Red went straight for the cherry, and Hunk came around next to her to get to the strawberry lemonade flavor.

“Oh, hey,” Red greeted him, “how’d it go?”

“I didn’t tell him,” Hunk sighed, “I decided it wasn’t a good time.”

“Hunk, there’s no such thing as the perfect moment,” Red protested.

“There is so! If his cat had just died, I wouldn’t tell him while he’s sobbing his eyes out,” Hunk pointed out.

“Alright, sure, there’s some times that are better than others. I’m just saying, if you wait for the one perfect moment, you’re never gonna do it,” Red groaned, “god, I sound like Shiro.”

“You do,” Hunk agreed. Red elbowed him in the chest lightly. 

“But if tonight wasn’t the night, well, I’m proud of you for trying,” Red continued.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. That takes guts to do what you did. Or, well, to work yourself up to doing it,” Red barely noticed her cup was going to overflow in time to stop it.

“Thanks, Red. You’re really cool,” Hunk smiled.

“I know,” Red spooned candy rocks onto her frozen yogurt, “speaking of cool, did you at least make up?”

“Yeah. Leandro is like, the nicest guy I know. I could probably hit him with my car and he’d still forgive me,” Hunk looked at Leandro. He was across the store, having a leftover soda chugging contest with Allura.

“You’re all so close. I can’t imagine anything that could break you up. You’re like Leandro’s second family,” Red smiled. Leandro choked on cola, giving Allura the lead.

“Hey, you’re part of the gang now, too. We all really like you,” Hunk put an arm around her. 

“It went down the wrong pipe! That’s a foul and you’re not allowed to just declare yourself a winner,” Leandro loudly protested.

“Oh come on, ref!” Allura looked to Katie.

“We can’t have a rematch without more soda, and it’s not Allura’s problem you forgot how to breathe,” Katie declared.

“Alright, let’s pay and get out of here before we’re forcibly removed,” Shiro suggested.

“Fine,” Leandro rolled his eyes dramatically, but he was barely resisting a grin.

They packed into the topping station like sardines. Hunk piled on as many gummy worms and chocolate rocks as he could get on his strawberry lemonade froyo and headed for the register first.

“Hey! How’s your night going!” The cashier cheerfully greeted. 

“Great, and even better now that I’m here,” Hunk set his froyo on the little scale thing, “how are you doing?”

“Likewise,” The cashier smiled, “this is gonna take a minute. The computer’s acting up tonight. Sorry.” 

“No worries!” Hunk noticed a large jar out of the corner of his eye, “is that Rio de Janeiro on your tip jar?”

“Oh, yeah,” he laughed sheepishly, “I’m sort of saving to spend a couple months there this summer with my dad’s family before college. I mean, I am. Not sort of. I don’t know why I said sort of.”

“That’s so cool! I’ve always wanted to visit,” Hunk replied, “I hope you get to go, man.”

“Thanks!” he grinned, “that’ll be seven even.”

“Sure. Keep the change,” Hunk handed him a ten.

“Wow, thanks again!” the guy brushed hands with Hunk and looked flustered, “uh, see you around.”

“Yeah, have a good night,” Hunk glanced at his name tag, “Gabe.”

* * *

After everyone had been good nighted and leftovers had been stuck in the fridge, Leandro and Hunk were awfully quiet. Leandro didn’t know what his problem was, but he felt his stomach sinking the longer he thought about Gabe. It wasn’t fair to Hunk, though, and he knew it, so he tried to be supportive.

“So, that Gabe guy was pretty cute, huh?” Leandro asked, staring at the ceiling.

“Uh, I dunno,” Hunk looked down, “I guess, so, yeah.”

“He was totally flirting with you,” Leandro continued, “you should have asked him out.”

“Shut up, he was not,” Hunk scoffed.

“Oh, come on,” Leandro sat up, “he was leaning over the counter, twirling his hair, batting his eyelashes.”

“Why would he be checking me out?” Hunk looked at Leandro.

“That’s a dumb question,” Leandro rolled his eyes, “because you’re sweet, and friendly, and charasmatic, and like, I mean this as platonically as possible, you’re hot. Like, drop dead gorgeous..”

“Oh my god,” Hunk thought he was gonna just drop  _ dead _ .

“It’s the truth!” 

“Well, thanks, but even if he was, and I’m not saying he was, because you’re out of your mind, I don’t ask people out on the clock when they are being paid to be nice to me, and I live fifteen hours away,” Hunk pointed out.

“Hm. I feel like there’s a term for that, you know, short relationships on spring break,” Leandro teased.

“Yeah, yeah, get your rest,” Hunk couldn’t help smiling. He turned the lamp off. Hunk fell almost right asleep, but Leandro couldn’t stop staring at the ceiling. 

Why did he feel so weird around Hunk lately? Why did talking about the froyo cashier form a small pit in his stomach? It was starting to effect Hunk, and he didn’t want that. He had to figure it out. He sat up. He needed to splash water in his face. He caught a glance at Hunk as he climbed out of bed, out like a light already. 

He made his way into the small, purple bathroom and splashed water on his face as quietly as he could. He counted the times that he’d felt weird around Hunk. Maybe he just felt weird around him because Hunk was Leandro’s first real guy friend. He’d been mostly raised with girls, save for Diego and his father and an occasional cousin.

Leandro must have stared himself in the mirror before the most plausible explanation crept into his head. Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no. He didn’t know for sure, but even the slight possibility…

He was in trouble. He knew that for sure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE OTHER SHOE JUST DROPPED


	7. Emotional Whiplash: The Movie

"Hello?" Allura answered the phone as quickly as she could. She hadn't been asleep yet, of course not. Allura was a night owl. But Leandro still felt bad for calling her after everyone had said their goodnight.

"Allura, can I meet you somewhere?" Leandro asked. 

"It's uh," she paused, "it's two am."

"This is important," he said.

"Okay, uh, I guess so," he could hear Allura swinging her legs over the side of the bed, "you can come over to my place, if you'd like."

"Sure, you're still living in the same place that you were during winter break?" Leandro asked. 

"Yes," Allura answered, "I'd never leave this place behind. Rent controlled. A guy died in here."

"That is not information that I needed, Al," Leandro yawned, putting on his shoes.

"Come on, it's fine," Allura dragged out the fine for extra emphasis.

"Yeah, let me just head down to my best friend's haunted apartment so that I can get killed by a wayward ball of surfboard wax," Leandro opened the garage door.

"If it's important enough to call me at two in the fucking morning," Allura said, "it's important enough for you to be willing to die over it. You were running that risk coming over even without the haunted-ness."

"You are so weird," Leandro rolled his eyes, climbing into his car, "I'm on my way."

"Okay, I'll lay out the rose petals and alert the cartoon birds of your arrival, god forbid king Leandro walks in and everything is not-"

"Allura."

"Yeah, okay," Allura said, "see you soon."

She hung up without saying goodbye. L:eandro tried easing his nerves with some music. He didn't like driving by himself, least of all at night. At least it was a short drive. He couldn't believe himself, the nerve he had driving over to Allura's place in the middle of the night. Well, he had to talk to someone, and him and Allura weren't doing the over the phone thing while he was in the vicinity. He could call her when he got back home, not now. 

Leandro was a fixer, he always was. It was killing him not to interfere with Diego and Rose and it killed him when his parents split up. And he wasn't going back home without fixing whatever this thing was with Allura. 

He pulled up in front of her apartment building. It was a nicer one, a little further from the beach than Leandro's mom's house, despite the fact she worked on the beach. Leandro approached the building, knocking on the one door with no placemats or plants or anything.

Allura answered the door, and it became clear Leandro had caught her in the midst of her night time routine, as evidenced by her ratty tank top and pajama bottoms she had possessed since the stone age.

"Hey, Leandro," Allura said, slowly, "what's up?"

"I'm having a crisis, is what is up," Leandro said, "I'm absolutely...wait, it's okay for me to talk to you about this, right?"

"Talk about what?" Allura asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Talk about boys," Leandro answered.

"Oh," Allura tensed, slightly, "yeah, of course. You're my best friend."

"Yeah, but I mean," Leandro started to protest.

"Don't," Allura said.

"Just, with everything that happened-"

"Leandro, don't," Allura said again. Leandro nodded.

"You know Hunk?"

"Hunk? I'm familiar, yes," Allura said half-sarcastically.

"Well?"

"Well, what?" Allura walked towards the kitchen. She was heading over to grab Leandro a drink. She didn't even ask, because if she did, Leandro would say no. And then he would just sit there dehydrating like a grape in the sun.

"Cherry limeade if you have it," Leandro said.

"I remember," Allura nodded.

"What do you think of him?" Leandro sat down on her loveseat. 

"I like him," Allura said, "he's sweet. Smart and funny, too," Allura answered, "why?"

"Um," Leandro straightened his spine, reluctant to look his best friend in the eye, "I think I might...kind of like him."

"Oh!" Allura put on her best 'surprised' face as not to be completely rude, "so..."

"So, what?" Leandro asked.

"What are you going to do about it?" Allura handed him a frosty mug.

"Well, nothing. I'm not sure," Leandro furrowed his brow, "I've never...uh..."

"Don't sit there and tell me that you've never had crushes. I know that's not true. I was there, Leandro."

"Well yeah, but, I dunno. It's different this time," Leandro furrowed his brow.

"Different how?" Allura asked, sitting down next to him.

"I've had crushes and stuff but I've never, you know, I've never been in a," Leandro laughed, even though he did not find this funny. Allura did not respond. The whole studio apartment was still and quiet for a very long time.

"Wow, I mean," Allura set her mug on the coffee table, "I don't know, you always made it sound like..."

"Well, that's because my dad was," Leandro tapped on his glass with his purple nails, "I mean...he's practically your dad, too. You've heard his stories."

"Well, yeah, but he's a rockstar."

"Dad is not a rock star," Leandro rolled his eyes.

"I mean, still though. He does the whole touring thing. He plays guitar, he wears those stupid leather pants-"

"Gross!" Leandro recoiled so hard his head narrowly missed hitting the wall behind him.

"You think I think it's less gross? It's uncle Rob," Allura pointed out, "I'm just saying."

"Yeah," Leandro sighed.

"Why didn't you ever tell me?" Allura asked.

"That was during...you know," Leandro confessed, "we weren't really talking."

"Oh," Allura said, "so your only relationship was the like, two weeks we went out?"

"As awkward and gross as that is," Leandro looked at her, "please stop staring at me."

"No, it's okay," Allura put a hand on his shoulder, "I haven't either."

"What?" Leandro was flabbergasted, "Nyma?"

"Well, that doesn't count. I mean, it's Nyma," Allura shrugged.

"Allura," Leandro groaned.

"We weren't really together," Allura rolled her eyes, "we kissed a couple of times. That's it."

"Well, at least you've kissed," Leandro said.

"Oh," Allura furrowed her brow, "ohhhh."

"I don't know what I'm feeling, really," Leandro said, "I was hoping you might be able to help."

"You thought that I was going to be able to help another human being figure out their feelings?" Allura's eyebrows raised as far as they would go, "I don't even know how to process my own feelings, let alone yours."

"Who else am I supposed to talk to about these things?" Leandro dramatically raised his glass, "My mom?"

"And whose fault is..." Allura trailed off, "sorry."

"Nope," Leandro set his mug down.

"What do you mean, nope?" Allura asked.

"What is that?:" Leandro fiddled with the drawstring on his sweatpants.

"What?" Allura tightened the grip around her mug.

"You don't want to talk about it," Leandro said, "but you keep bringing it up. You know what I mean. I know you do."

"Leandro, drop it," Allura shut her eyes.

"You're still mad at me, aren't you?" Leandro took a deep breath, "You're still mad, and you won't let me fix this."

"There's nothing to fix," Allura stood up.

"But you're still upset," Leandro said.

"Leandro," Allura dragged her hands down her face, "I don't want to talk about this."

"But there's still unresolved feelings," Leandro said, "and every time I try to fix it, you won't let me."

"Not everything is yours to fix, Leandro," Allura stood.

"This is just as much mine to fix as it is yours," Leandro said.

"There's nothing you can do about it," Allura spoke softly.

"But why not?" Leandro asked.

"Because," Allura said, "I shouldn't be mad at you. You apologized. And I know how tough it is to come out. I know. Because I did it. I did. And I know you feel sorry even though it was my dumb idea to tell everyone. I know that you're sorry."

"But you're still upset," Leandro worried his lip.

"Yeah, I," Allura was getting misty, "yeah. I'm still upset. And that's unfair to you. So I pushed it aside and patched things up-"

"I never asked you to do that," L:eandro said, "I never asked you."

"I know," Allura looked at Leandro, then at the floor, "you went along with it because I was ready. And you knew that I wasn't going to be able to do it alone. And you would have had a horrible coming out story."

"Like you did," Leandro finished.

"I didn't say that."

"But you thought it," Leandro protested.

"Yeah, I," Allura paused, "yeah." 

"I should have told you I wasn't ready," Leandro said.

"Yes," Allura looked then at the window. Anywhere but Leandro's face, "but I should have never talked you into that."

"Maybe," Leandro folded his arms, "but I made it seem like I was so that you could do it. And that wasn't fair. Because you can't force it. Unless you're outed. And I guess I knew that. But I thought, I really thought I was gonna do it."

"Yeah, I know."

"And if I would have just told you-"

"Yeah," Allura chewed her nails, "yeah. Damn it."

"It's okay," Leandro said, "that you're still upset, I mean."

"It's unfair."

"That's true too. And if I had done it, I would have been mad at you," Leandro rubbed the back of his neck.

"Some best friends we are," Allura sighed, "it took us all of a year to say this."

"It hasn't been a year yet," Leandro pointed out. Allura didn't answer, "how long do you think this is gonna be a thing?"

"I don't know. I mean, you felt weird about it too, that's why you didn't apologize at first," Allura said, "I don't know, Leandro."

"Are we still..." Leandro couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence.

"I hope so," Allura looked at him, "I really hope so, Leandro. Because this sucks."

"I don't want you to force it," Leandro's voice wavered slightly, "I don't want you to pretend everything's okay when it's not. Not with me, Allura."

"Okay," Allura nodded, "I'm not mad at you, you know. I don't really know what this is that I'm feeling."

"Yeah."

"I love you," Allura said.

"I love you," now it was Leandro who couldn't look, "and I don't want you to feel like you can't come around. You know, because of this."

"Aunt Jules would definitely think it's suspicious if I did," Allura nodded.

"I should go, I think," Leandro looked at the door.

"Maybe," Allura closed her eyes, "yeah."

"Well, goodnight."

"Night."

And then he left.

* * *

"You're gonna love Carmen," Leandro said.

"We know," Katie sighed, "you said that, already."

"Yeah, well, it's true," Leandro's smile somehow felt too flat and too excited at the same time. 

"When is she supposed to be here, again?" Penny asked.

"She's supposed to be here," Leandro took his phone out of his pocket, "thirty-two minutes ago."

"You know your father," Julia said, "fashionably late."

"Legend has it he was late to his own wedding," Penny added.

"Oye, who told you that?" Julia asked.

"Tia Lin," Penny answered brightly.

"Oh, that woman has got a mouth on her," Julia put her hands to her side.

"She never liked Papi," Penny whispered loudly.

"That is not true," Julia protested. Penny gave her that look, and she relented, "alright, she never liked him. The day Robin and I separated, she told me that the Earth grew more vivid."

"I don't know what her problem is," Allura said, carrying a tray, "Robbie is great."

"The day I first took him home to my family," Julia shook her head, "I swear on my life mi Mami nearly went into cardiac arrest then and there. He came on a motorcycle, dressed for the occasion. Nice jeans instead of those awful leather pants, a nice dress shirt. He still wore those black boots with the belt with a skull on it. His hair was greased."

"That was after the face tattoos, right?" Penny asked, fully invested in this story.

"Oh yes," Julia smiled wistfully, "you'll have to ask him for the rest of the story later. It is quite the treat."

"Especially for Penelope," Leandro teased, "I don't know how you wound up to be such a gossip, nena."

"You don't?" Penny raised an eyebrow, "It was your influence."

"Me? Gossip?" Leandro gasped dramatically.

"It's true, Cielito, don't pretend it isn't," Julia grinned.

"Slander!" Leandro threw his arms up. 

"I still don't understand what Lin's damage was," Allura said, "I mean, they threw a fit because he had tattoos?"

"It was a different time, my dear, that was the kind of men mothers warned their daughters away from. Bad boys," Julia turned away, flustered, "our marriage was, by my count, his too, the best mistake we ever made. We had some good times."

"Why didn't it work out, again?" Penny asked, "I mean, when I was little-"

"We were very young when we got married," Julia answered, "I found out I was pregnant with my Rose, Robin proposed to me the very same day. It was all so quick, and somewhere along the way we realized...I'm sorry, I'm completely bombarding my son's friends with this."

"It's okay," Shiro said, trying not to look totally invested, "I mean, it's not our business-"

"You're Leandro's family away from home," Julia beamed.

"So?" Penny asked, egging her on.

"We were in love. Very much so. A piece of my heart will always belong to Robin Cruz. But there came a time, I was starting my restaurant, and Robin decided he was going to go on a tour, and we decided that our lives were going in different directions."

"I bet you wish you figured that out before you had five kids," Leandro said. Julia pinched his cheek.

"No, Cielito, I love our story. And I wouldn't trade a single piece of it. Especially not you kids," Julia said, "he's a lovely man. My very best friend. I'm sure he's going to adore all of you."

"If he ever shows up!" Leandro huffed, glancing out of the window. 

"A watched road..." Julia trailed off.

"Well, it's hard not to watch the road when he was supposed to be here," Leandro glanced at his phone once more, "forty-five minutes ago."

Speak of the devil, a low rumble came within earshot. A bassline. Leandro looked back out the window and saw it. The RV. That horrible RV that Julia hated so very much. He grinned as the RV pulled in front of the house. Julia physically held him back from racing out and mowing straight over their guests. The walk up the driveway was excruciating. Finally, a key was inserted into the lock. The doorknob turned, and...And...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Conflict! Arrivals! cheap narrative tactics!


	8. Great Googly Moogly

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Implied home of phobia

The second that Robin and Carmen walked through the door, Julia, Allura, Penny and Leandro practically trampled them. They erupted into a frenzy of greetings, hugs, introductions, handshakes.

“It’s so good to meet all of you!” Robin beamed. His accent was a little bit stronger than Julia’s. 

“They’ve been such a delight to have around. You’ll love them,” Julia grinned back, pulling Robin into another hug. True to her word, they behaved just like best friends. Seeing their hug made Allura ache. She instinctively looked away.

“Oye, flaco, have you gotten shorter somehow?” Carmen gave Leandro a noogie. She was wearing platform shoes, but she seemed to be a good four inches taller than Leandro regardless.

“Says the fifty foot woman,” Leandro teased.

“Penny’s five five. At this rate you’ll be the shortest person in the family,” Carmen continued.

“Carmen Louisa, you quit teasing your brother,” Robin said. 

“Yes sir,” Carmen put her hands back in her pockets.

“Que es ‘sir!’” Julia mocked, “Robin, you have her talking like a marine? The last time you brought her back I couldn’t get her to put a dish in the sink for two months.”

“The way of the rock star,” Leandro rolled his eyes.

“Rock star is a very strong word, cielito,” Robin said sheepishly, “I’m the opening act. Nobody comes to see us when it’s just the band and you have all your friends thinking I’m Mick Jagger.”

“Mick Jagger,” Penny scoffed under her breath.

“You have your own tour bus,” Leandro pointed out.

“We have Hazel, too,” Carmen nodded wisely.

“Well,” Julia chimed in, “the day is young. What would you and Carmen like to do?”

“Oh, well, of course I would like to have dinner with my kids this evening, as well as Leandro’s wonderful friends,” Robin scratched at the small heart on his cheek..

“Robin, you know that is not,” Julia paused, “feasible right now.”

“Oh,” Robin’s smile faded, “this is absolutely ridiculous. What we need to do is-”

“Robin. Not right now. Not in front of the kids,” Julia said softly.

“You’re right,” Robin agreed, “if none of you would mind, I would like a word with Julie.”

Nobody objected. Robin smiled and took her hand. They walked, silently, into the kitchen, closing the door behind them. Robin heard Carmen ask the group if they wanted to do tarot cards in an all too immediate-subject-change-needed sort of way.

“Robin, we have been over this,” Julia spoke with a certain measured calmness, “Diego and Rose are not on speaking terms.”

“Do you have literally any idea why?” Robin asked, “Any at all?”

“That is completely irrelevant, my dear,” Julia placed a hand on his shoulder, “we must respect their boundaries.”

“Like hell I will,” Robin met her eyes, “my children are not on speaking terms with each other. This breaks my heart, Julia, and I suspect that it breaks yours, too.”

“Of course it does,” Julia answered, “we cannot force them to make up.”

“I am not asking them to make up, amor, I am asking them simply to go to dinner. To exist in the same space for the night,” Robin explained.

“It’s not that simple, Robin,” Julia frowned, “if it was…”

“No, Julia, I have had enough of this. I would never question your decision to respect them. I think you’re more mature than I am to entertain this feud. But I am out of town for forty six weeks out of the year. Forty six, Julia. I have no photos of our children all together since they were kids. One night, Julia. That is all I ask,” Robin said.

“But why now?” Julia asked, “with everything else going on, Leandro’s friends-”

“I cannot remember the last time all of us were in town together. Rose visits Claudia’s parents, Carmen likes to do her own thing, Leandro lives very far away now. The next time it will be summer,” he softened his gaze, “Rose will never forgive herself if her brother is not at her wedding. I’m afraid if Diego does not go to her wedding, it will be a bridge they cannot gap.”

“This is not our business to fix,” Julia took her hand away.

“seventeen years, Julia,” Robin said.

“I know.”

“I did not speak to my brother for seventeen years. And when we began talking again, he was sick. And I am grateful that we reconciled before he passed, that he got to meet our children. I am grateful for the time we had. But the time we lost is my greatest regret. And I am not saying that some actions are not inexcusable. Hazel has not spoken to her mother in two decades, that is the best decision she could have made. But if there is a chance our children could reconcile, they will never take it. Not on their own. They are too proud.”

“One dinner,” Julia held up her finger, “I will tell them you forced it upon us.”

“Very well,” Robin nodded.

“I would like to clarify this is a very stupid plan,” Julia said.

“All of our best stories start off with you saying that, my love,” Robin’s lips hinted at a smile as he pushed the door open.

* * *

“I walked through the door, it was actually Lin that answered the door, for those of you new here, that is Julia’s older sister. She answered the door and she said, and I have never heard someone younger than my grandmother say this,” Robin put on his best offended lady impression, “dios mio!”

“My sister did not say that. Nobody says that,” Julia rolled her eyes.

“I swear on my life she said it. I remember because I responded, ‘you must be Julia’s mother!’” Rob sent the whole table into a frenzy of laughter.

“No wonder my sister hates you!” Julia’s eyes were wet with tears from laughing, and the story had only just begun.

“It was dark!” Robin defended, “Anyway, she led me in, and the first thing she says to me, the first thing Lin says to the man who was married to her little sister for years-”

“You have got shit on your face!” Julia finished.

“I clarified quickly that it was a tattoo, and she exclaimed ‘that is worse’!” Robin grinned, “So we walked into the kitchen and Jules of course looks terrified-”

“I did not look terrified,” Julia protested.

“You looked like you had seen a ghost,” Robin insisted, “anyway, I shake hands with your parents, I greet your siblings, I kiss you on the cheek, I thought I was doing pretty well. And then your mother asked me what I do for a living.”

“Oh nooooo,” Leandro shook his head.

“And I thought I would be honest. I told them I was a wedding singer. And instead of grilling me, she went directly to poor Julia. How do you expect this man to provide for you as a husband if he’s a wedding singer? It was a disaster. And then I assured them that I was perfectly capable of supporting my fiancee and future child.”

“I forgot to brief him that they did not know I was with child. I was already stressed out introducing them to my fiance,” Julia explained, “of course I did not count on you broadcasting-”

“You were the one who waited until we were engaged to introduce me to your family,” Robin pointed out.

“For your own safety, my love,” Julia retorted, “there is a reason we call my mother Diana Diablo.”

“Oh believe me, I know,” Robin nodded, “but when they found out, it was absolute chaos. They nearly chased me off the lawn.”

“But I calmed them down with the one thing that can neutralize my mother with just in time. The fact she was going to be a grandmother,” Julia said with a grin, “you kids have always been darlings to her.”

There was silence that came with that. It didn’t last long, but it was present.

“My parents never liked you though,” Julia ended the silence, “but my little siblings did. They adore you.”

“Yeah, well,” if Robin resisted a bashful grin, “your younger sister and brother were thirteen. I had a motorcycle, a guitar, and your parents hated me.”

“That is the trifecta of good traits to have. I remember when you took Rosie on your bike for the first time. She was too thrilled.”

“And yet you won’t let Hazel teach me,” Carmen scoffed, “uncool.”

“Your aunt Hazel is many things, but a good motorcyclist is not one of them,” Robin waved her off.

“What about you, Dad?” Carmen asked, hopefully.

“You know your father does not ride motorcycles,” Julia said, “after he put the rod of his dirtbike through his leg.”

“Motorcycles are different!” Carmen protested.

“They are much more dangerous,” Robin added.

“Red can teach you how to ride a motorcycle,” Julia nudged Red with her elbow “I mean, if she wants to, that is.”

“I don’t have a motorcycle with me at present,” Red said, immediately clamming up.

“Oh well,” Julia smiled, “I suppose you could do it over the summer.”

“Over the summer?” Red asked.

“Oh we would love it for you to come back,” Julia beamed.

“I mean, uh,” Red looked over to Leandro. Leandro looked a little surprised, but he smiled quickly.

“Red, we would love to have you back for the summer,” Leandro assured her, “only if you want to, though. Mami has a habit of making her guests feel like hostages.”

“I mean,” Red looked very intensely at her pizza, “I don’t have anything else going on. And you’re all so great.”

“Is that a yes?” Julia asked.

“It’s a maybe,” Leandro answered, He looked towards Red, who in turn nodded, “I’m gonna get this cleaned up. Papi’s been yawning for the past hour.”

“It’s barely one am,” Julia shook her head, “some rock star.”

“The life of an opening act, love,” Robin stood, “alas, she is right. I’ll need to go to bed.”

“Sadly, that means that the rest of us have to disperse,” Carmen stood up, “Come on, Leandro.”

“Hunk is staying in our room with us,” Leandro said, “is that alright?”

“Doesn’t bother me,” Carmen shrugged, and with a quick goodnight, everyone went their separate ways.

It had been a great night, it really had.

* * *

Carmen, surprisingly, found herself awake before noon. There was something about being in a different city that made her wake up ludicrously early. Leandro was awake, too, sitting on the back porch, looking at the ocean view. 

“Are you okay, dude?” Carmen asked very quietly as she creaked the sliding glass door shut to avoid waking her father up.

“I’m good,” Leandro sighed.

“Liar,” Carmen stepped in front of him.

“How would you know?” Leandro asked.

“Because your posture looks like that of a college freshman,” Carmen answered, “and your nostrils are flaring. These are tense Leandro traits.”

“Okay, yeah, well, so?” Leandro asked.

“Dude, what is it?” Carmen leaned against the back of the house, “You can tell me, if you want to, I mean.”

“Okay,” Leandro sighed, “I have a crush.”

“A crush?” Carmen asked. Her eyes lit up, “A crush!”

“Yeah, and normally I would talk to Allura about it, but, well…” Leandro trailed off.

“You guys aren’t really talking,” Carmen finished.

“How did you know that?” Leandro asked.

“I have powers,” Carmen grinned.

“Anyway, this person is a really close friend and I don’t know how to…” Leandro paused, “it’s so stupid and complicated.”

“You don’t want to fuck up your friendship with this girl,” Carmen tilted her head.

“Uh, yeah.” Leandro said, trying not to visibly wince, “I’m just not exactly what to do about it. It’s not like I can just go confront them. Not in the middle of this chaos. But I don’t know.”

“It’s always better to talk about your feelings,” Carmen said, “even if you’re gonna get your feelings hurt.”

“I wouldn’t know what to say to them,” Leandro sighed.

“Knowing what to say is a myth,” Carmen protested, “it’s all about timing. But I can tell she likes you too, so why don’t you just tell Red that-”

“Woah woah woah,” Leandro violently waved his hands, “I do not like Red. You’re as bad as mom is!”

“Sorry!” Carmen backtracked, “Sorry, I don’t know why I just assumed that.”

“Me either!” Leandro was suddenly laughing, “Oh my god. Me and Red?”

“Jesus I am so sorry. I just,” Carmen froze, “oh wait. If not Red, then who?”

“No way,” Leandro scoffed.

“You said not in the middle of this chaos.”

“I...so?” Leandro raised an eyebrow.

“Is this girl here in town?” Carmen asked.

“I do not have to answer these questions!” Leandro protested.

“That means yes. Wait. Hang on. Oh,” her eyes widened, “oh.”

“What?”

“You’re right. This is absolutely none of my business. I’m sorry,” Carmen folded her arms.

“Carm, what?”

“I totally did not mean to put you on the spot or make assumptions or-”

“Carm, if you don’t tell me what you’re oh-ing about I will scream so loud everyone in this house will think you’re trying to kill me,” Leandro said sternly.

“Leandro…”

“Don’t test me. You know I’m capable.”

“I’m sorry,” Carmen sighed, “you just...you keep saying ‘person’. And it makes sense that if it’s someone here, and you’re friends which means it’s someone back home, and if they’re experiencing all this chaos. Katie is too young and Shiro is too old and it’s not Red or Allura so…”

“Jesus christ.”

“It’s okay, it’s fine. I’m not going to assume anything, I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, I’m just gonna go back inside and-”

“You’re right,” Leandro cut her off. Carmen took her hand off the handle of the door, “It’s Hunk. Carmen, I’m….gay.”

“God, I am so sorry.”

“I...why are you sorry?” Leandro furrowed his brow.

“Well, because I made assumptions and I put you on the spot and,” Carmen looked at him, “I’m totally fucking up this coming out thing.”

“I know as twins we have a connection, but I’m pretty sure that it’s me who’s coming out right now,” Leandro smiled some, though he still felt as though he was about to die. 

“No but I mean, I’ve never been come out to before. When Rose and Allura came out it was like a big announcement and a lot of my friends were openly gay before I knew them, so it’s just-”

“Carm.”

“What?”

“Carmen.”

“I...yes?” 

“Calm the shit down,” he instructed, “you’re kind of freaking out.”

“Oh and I’m not flipping my shit because you’re gay. I’m thinking about the kind of stuff I’ve said and,” Carmen gasped, “oh god. I guess I subconsciously assumed that because Rose was gay...I’m a jerk. Oh my god.”

“What you’re doing right now is in no way helping,” Leandro said, “this isn’t how I pictured things either, believe me!”

“I’m sorry,” Carmen sat down. She started tearing up.

“Holy fucking shit, Carmen, why are you crying?” Leandro asked.

“I’m just so honored that you’re telling me this,” she blubbered, “and I feel like this is a moment we’re both gonna remember forever and I’m having a total meltdown.”

“Okay, let’s start over,” he looked at her, “Carmen, I’m gay.”

“Oh, cool,” she said.

“Okay now what the hell was that?” Leandro asked, “You were closer the first time.”

“Thank you for telling me. I’m very honored,” Carmen was hyperventilating, “I feel like I know you better now and I’m so proud of you for having the courage to tell me and accept who you are. You’re my older brother and my best friend and you’re like my favorite guy in the world no matter what.”

Carmen then proceeded to start gagging.

“BRO?” Leandro demanded.

“I’m good. I’m fine, oh my god,” Carmen took a deep breath, “this conversation has been a disaster. I’m going to go back inside and maybe flush myself down the toilet.”

“I am not even gonna argue with you,” Leandro face palmed.

“I’ll talk to you in like. How long will it take for this to stop being weird?”

“I’ll talk to you on your deathbed,” Leandro said, “no, uh, like an hour.”

“Okay, cool. I will see you in an hour,” Carmen backed straight into the doorway. For someone practically raised by a lesbian bus driver, she really was horrible at this. 

Still, sadly, not the most awkward coming out he’d had.

* * *

“We won!” Penny shouted as she burst through the door. Katie and Allura were close behind, clearly struggling to keep up.

“Won what, nena?” Carmen asked. She was, at present, sitting upside down on the couch. Everyone had woken up by now, greeted with a ‘off to the beach’ sticky note on the refrigerator.

“The sandcastle contest!” Penny nearly shrieked, “we won a fifty dollar gift card to the smoothie place down at the beach!”

“Wow,” Carmen kicked her legs down, “that’s pretty cool, Penny!”

“Penelope, you know you’re not supposed to go to the beach without adult supervision,” Robin scolded.

“Allura is an adult,” Penny pointed out, “we did have supervision. And we’re allowed to walk to her apartment.”

“Nena, you know better,” Julia said, “and Allura, I’m so sorry Penny claimed you her babysitter for the day.”

“It’s alright, Jules,” Allura brushed a curl out of her face, “it was fun.”

“Is everyone really going to gloss over the fact that we won?” Penny asked, “I’ve never won anything in my whole life.”

“That’s not true,” Robin said, “when you were little, you used to run track.”

“That’s right,” Julia nodded, “you were so good at it, too.”

“I’ve never won fifty dollars though,” Penny set the certificate on the counter.

“Good job, Penny! You too, Katie!” Shiro chimed in.

The rest of them joined in a chorus of congratulations.

“This calls for ice cream,” Julia announced, pushing the door into the kitchen, “if you want a drumstick, say so now.”

Robin followed her in after everyone had said yes to ice cream. He stepped between her and the fridge.

“Qué carajo?” she gave him a quizzical look, “You have a problem with ice cream, Robin?”

“Rots your teeth, that sugar,” he shook his head, “any word from Rose or Diego?”

“Diego,” she paused, “has invited us to his house for dinner like usual. Begrudgingly, he is extending the invite to Rose so long as she can be civil. Rose has agreed to be civil if you, amor, can promise not to meddle.”

“Me? Meddle?” Robin pretended to be shocked.

“Robin, this is serious. I need you to promise to let their feelings be theirs. You cannot force them to make up. I do not want you to try,” she said.

“Fine,” Robin held a hand up in surrender, “I will behave if they will.”

“Good. Now get out of my way,” Julia commanded, “if we make a habit of being alone in the kitchen, the children will suspect conspiracy, you know.”

“Conspiracy?” Robin raised an eyebrow.

“Penny is convinced every time you come here that we’re going to fall into one another’s arms,” Julia explained.

“She was very young when we broke up,” Robin nodded sagely, “there are things that she does not understand.”

“We love each other, and she thinks that is all that matters,” Julia continued, “it’s very sweet, really.”

“She is a very sweet girl,” Robin nodded, “when she is not getting into trouble, that is.”

“She got that from your side,” Julia laughed, “I do, by the way. Love you, that is. I always have and I always will.”

“I love you too, Julia. So, the ice cream?”

“Ah, yes, the ice cream.”

* * *

“I want everyone to be on their best behavior,” Julia said, “do not provoke your siblings.”

“Oye, you’re acting like we haven’t seen them since they stopped talking,” Leandro rolled his eyes.

“It’s weird sending our guests in a different car,” Penny said, completely ignoring them, “anyone else find it weird?”

“This was the most convenient way to do it,” Robin explained, “Allura insisted.”

“She had better be good to my car,” Leandro stared out the window.

“She’s a better driver than you,” Carmen chimed in. 

“Quit teasing your brother,” Julia said, “next right, Robbie.”

“I know how to get to my own son’s house, Julia,” Robin said, knowing full well he would have made a right.

“The only person I’m worried about is Claudia,” Leandro continued, “I hope Diego keeps his mouth shut about her.”

“Poor girl. He never did like her,” Julia shook her head.

“Claudia will be fine,” Carmen waved a hand, “she’s got thick skin. Dad, you passed it.”

“What?” Robin asked.

“It’s the light purple house, Papi,” Carmen pointed backwards.

“Damn. Thank you, Carmen,” Robin began making a u-turn.

“I know how to get to my own son’s house,” Julia said in a mockingly deep voice.

“Yes, yes,” Robin rolled his eyes as he pulled onto the curb. Leandro and Rose’s cars were both there already, which meant Robin was going to get an earful later. The group stepped out of the car.

“Leave your snide comments at the door,” Julia instructed.

“Julie, it’s going to be fine. What’s the worst that could happen?”

He rang the doorbell before she could answer.

* * *

The dinner was nice and awkward and silent for the main course. Everyone was nearly afraid to speak, small talk here and there. It was so sad. This was the most silent family gathering Leandro had ever been a part of, and it was sort of unsettling in that way. Rose had not brought Claudia along, and the question of why hung in the air until about an hour into the dinner when Robin couldn’t take it anymore.

“Rosie, can I ask you a question?” Robin placed his elbows on the table.

“Sure,” Rose sort of tensed up.

“Where’s Claudia?” he asked.

“Papi,” Rose warned.

“Sorry, did I touch a nerve?” Robin leaned back in his chair, “I sincerely did not mean to.”

“No I,” Rose sighed, “it’s alright. Claudia didn’t want to come. She figured this dinner was high stress enough. I didn’t want to argue with her.”

“She could have,” Diego mumbled.

“What?” Rose asked.

“She could have. If she wanted to,” he said, “I am more than capable of being polite to my sister’s fiancee.”

“I didn’t say that you weren’t,” Rose snapped.

“Enough, both of you,” Julia commanded, “not in front of your children, not in front of Leandro’s friends.”

“Sure, ma,” Diego rubbed the back of his neck, “sorry.”

Claudia didn’t respond, only clamped her jaw shut.

“Penny won a fifty dollar gift card today,” Julia was quick to change the subject, “her and Katie.”

“We won a sandcastle building competition,” Penny smiled, “it was so great. Katie figured out a way to use cups and spoons and stuff to help with smaller details.”

“I’ve never lived this close to a beach,” Katie said, “sandcastles live up to their hype in tv shows.”

“Sandcastles are great,” Penny agreed, “even if we had to start over a lot.”

“Prototype castle number eleven was not structurally sound. We need to let it go,” Katie shook her head.

“But the tea light would have been so cool,” Penny protested.

“When’s the wedding?” Diego asked. All eyes fell to Rose.

“August third,” Rose answered plainly.

“Are you serious?” Diego slammed his fork down.

“Diego,” Julia warned.

“Of all the days, Rose?” Diego pressed.

“Claudia picked it,” Rose said.

“Of course,” Diego leaned back, “of course she did.”

“Why do you care? You’re not going,” Rose pointed out.

“What’s August third, Dad?” Luke asked.

“Lucas, Talia, why don’t you go finish your dinner in the TV room,” Teresa suggested, “you can watch anything you want.”

“Really, mom?” Tallie asked excitedly.

“Nobody is going anywhere because this conversation is over,” Julia corrected.

“Ma is right. We shouldn’t be talking about the wedding,” Diego agreed.

“Then why did you bring it up?” Rose asked.

“Tallie. Luke. Now,” Teresa pointed. Reluctantly, they took their food and left.

“So, uh, what kind of cheese did you use for the potatoes, Teresa?” Allura asked, “it’s really good.”

“Did you bring it up just to hurt me? Do you think it doesn’t break my heart every day I don’t talk to you?” Rose asked.

“Enough. The two of you can’t go one night-”

“No, dad, I guess we can’t,” Diego cut him off, “what was the point of getting us together anyway? Did you think we were gonna be like oh gee, my life has been fucking miserable without you and hug and make up just like that?”

“Is it a crime for me to want to have my children together in the same room?” Robin asked.

“That is not what this is about and you know it,” Rose’s voice was calm in sort of a terrifying way, “Papi, I am sorry you and your brother fought. I am sorry that you lost all that time together, I really am. But this is not the same.”

“I did not suggest that it was,” Robin said, “but since you want to bring that up, I do not want you to stop speaking for seventeen years or your entire lives. What kind of father would I be if I did?”

“This isn’t your responsibility to fix, Papi,” Rose shut her eyes.

“Well, we’ve been doing a fantastic fucking job at it ourselves,” Diego said, “please, Rose, I wanted you to be here tonight. I wanted you to know that I still love you. And I don’t want us to fight anymore.”

“Don’t, Diego. Please,” Rose put her head in her hands.

“He is right. There is nothing that he could have done-”

“You don’t know what he did!” Rose shouted. Everyone was stunned to silence.

“You won’t tell us. That was your decision,” Robin pointed out.

“Robin, sit down,” Julia grabbed his arm, “please sit down.”

“I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to be angry at Diego for our fight,” Rose explained, “but if you and Diego and whoever fucking else wants act like a goddamn child in front of Leandro’s friends, then maybe I should stop trying to be mature. When Claudia and I got engaged do you know what he said to me?”

Robin remained silent. Everyone did. Hunk squeezed Leandro’s hand under the table, tight.

“It was small at first, Claudia has never been his favorite person, and he made snide remarks left and right. And one night, after Leandro left for school again, I asked him what his problem with Claudia was.He said that the issue was not with Claudia. He told me it was my business if I wanted to spend my life with her, but to tell the family, to get married was a mistake.”

“You what?” Teresa stood.

“It wasn’t like that, Rose, please, I swear it wasn’t,” Diego’s voice was soft now.

“Diego, get your keys and leave,” Teresa spoke through gritted teeth.

“When I tried to explain myself, Rose stormed off,” Diego said.

“There’s no explanation. I want you to go. Store, beach, gas station, I don’t care. When you come back, you’re sleeping on the couch. Now go,” Teresa made it clear she wasn’t going to say it twice. Without another word, Diego stood and left.

“I should go,” Rose said, “Teresa, it was so good to see you and the kids. I hope you understand this isn’t about you.”

“You don’t have to explain a thing, dear,” Teresa pulled her into a hug. Rose said her goodbyes and left. The others continued their meal in complete and total silence.


	9. What is a Friend but an accomplice?

It wasn’t fighting, what they did, it wasn’t even that silent fighting adults did by exchanging looks. No, the entire house was consumed with near complete silence all night.

Sure, a few sentences here and there. But how did you even begin to respond to the horrible set of events that had transpired? They opted, instead, to make the most disgustingly abysmal small talk that had ever been heard by human ears.

They all fell asleep early on account of there being nothing to do but make extremely desolate eye contact with one another, and for once, Hunk had something other than his crush on Leandro to spend way too much time thinking about while he was falling asleep.

When everyone woke up in the morning, they were surprised to see that Julia was still at home.

“I have taken the day off,” she said, sipping from her mug, “I’ve called Allura. She’s coming over.”

“Why?” Carmen asked.

“Because she’s part of this family and we need to discuss the events of last night,” she gestured towards the group, “I’m so terribly sorry to everyone, but if you would not mind...”

“If Leandro will loan me his car keys, I can probably find a restaurant for us to go to,” Shiro suggested helpfully. Leandro didn’t look at him. Leandro was staring at the floor. He tossed Shiro his car keys nonetheless.

“I feel so horrible for kicking you out. You all are guests,” Julia continued. She locked eyes with Red, who stood.

“No, Jules, it’s fine. Believe me,” Red approached her, “we can totally go hang out somewhere else.”

“Yeah, you didn’t plan this, don’t worry about it,” Shiro assured her.

“I’m just so sorry that you all had to see that to begin with,” Julia furrowed her brow, “it’s not right. We tried to be polite but we-”

“Julia, stop apologizing,” Red told her.

“Okay,” Julia sighed, “okay. Call if you need anything.”

“We will,” said Shiro. 

* * *

It wasn’t very long before Allura arrived. Invites were extended to Rose. She didn’t come. 

“Hi,” she said when Leandro opened the door.

“You didn’t have to-” Leandro started.

“It would have been weird if I didn’t,” Allura snapped.

“Okay,” Leandro sighed. He began closing the door.

“Wait!” he heard a voice from the end of the driveway.

“Teresa?” Leandro held the doorknob tightly.

“Sorry, I,” she froze at the sight of Julia and Robin, ‘I hope that I am not unwelcome.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Teresa. Come in. Have a seat,” Julia said, entirely unconvincingly.

“Where are the kids?” Robin asked.

“I have them with,” she lowered her voice, “with him.”

“Ah,” Robin looked at her. He did not know what to say.

“Well, now that everyone is here, we can discuss the events of last night,” Julia said, “something horrible happened, and we need to figure out what to do.”

“Darling, what  _ can _ we do?” Robin asked, “This goes deeper than anything we know how to fix.”

“I don’t think we should try to fix this at all,” Allura chimed in, “I mean, isn’t that what we were attempting to do last night?”

“Allura has a point,” Carmen said, “I mean, all we really did last night was make it worse. Rose isn’t even returning our calls.”

“But what are we supposed to do?” Julia exhaled, “my babies are hurting.”

“Diego deserves to feel hurt,” Penny mumbled.

“Nena’s right. What he did was completely inexcusable,” Carmen agreed.

“But he is my son, what am I supposed to do, never talk to him again?” Robin asked.

“He betrayed her, papi,” Carmen pointed out.

“Betrayed may be a little-”

“What, Julia? What would it be?” Teresa interrupted, “Completely correct?”

“He was attempting to explain himself when he was thrown out, maybe there’s more to the story,” Leandro suggested. Hoped.

“Leandro, how could you even say that?” Carmen demanded, “Even if Rose forgives him, he’s setting a bad example for how gay people should be treated. I mean, what if Talia or Lucas were gay?”

Allura stood and went up to the attic without a word.

“Well, that’s my cue,” Leandro said.

“Where do you think you’re going, Leandro? Sit down,” Robin commanded.

“Robbie, let him go,” Julia put a hand on her ex husband’s shoulder, “Cielito, give Allura our apologies.”

“And then some,” Carmen added.

“Sure,” Leandro put his hands in his pockets.

“Why is she here in the first place?” Carmen whispered behind Leandro, “She of all people-”

He didn’t hear the rest before he shut the door to the attic.

“Hey,” Leandro greeted.

“Hey. Sorry for coming into your room,” she was sitting on his bed.

“Don’t apologize, I sort of needed to get away too,” Leandro assured her.

“Did you have any idea? About Diego, I mean?” Allura asked.

“Well,” Leandro leaned against the wall, “I’ve always had my suspicions. He’s always...”

“What?” Allura looked up.

“Diego used to be so cool,” Leandro ran his fingers through his hair, “and then something happened. I don’t know what. He just...wasn’t anymore. And he’s kept his cool, mostly been polite, I guess.”

“I’d rather someone be outright about the way they feel than this quiet twenty-first century homophobia that seems to be sweeping the nation,” Allura responded.

“Yeah! Agreed!” Leandro huffed.

“What bugs me is that Teresa seems pretty outraged at him.”

“That bugs you?” Leandro was perplexed.

“Well, yeah. I mean, I guess it’s cool that she stood up for Rose, but how do you not  _ know _ something like that about someone you’ve known for how long?”

“Since they were ten. Like I said, he used to be cooler.”

“I mean, like, still, though.”

“Still,” Leandro agreed.

“And what the hell was Carmen’s spiel about. ‘What if Tallie or Luke were gay’,” Allura scoffed.

“Oh my god, I know,” Leandro facepalmed for dramatic effect.

“First of all, Tallie and Luke weren’t even there. Teresa kicked them out before the conversation out of hand. Second of all, saying that in front of me-”

“Me too. I came out to Carmen.”

“That’s fantastic, congratulations! Also oh my god what she said to you is now so so much worse,” Allura groaned.

“It’s like, they’re trying. We know they’re trying. But straight people are just completely by default tone deaf about how to approach these things,” Leandro continued.

“And are just completely self unaware of how tone deaf they are,” Allura added, “it’s just the whos who of awkward eggshell walking down there.”

“Why does this need to be a family meeting at all?”

“The answer is it doesn’t,” Allura sighed.

“Them being so excruciatingly like this is part of the reason I didn’t…” Leandro trailed off, sheepish. There was a bit of silence.

“Can I ask you one question?” Allura locked eyes with him.

“Sure.”

“If you’ve...always known about this-”

“How come I never told you?” Leandro finished.

“Yeah,” Allura looked down, “yes.”

“I mean,” Leandro sighed, “they’ve always been like your family too. Our parents were best friends. And it felt...like maybe I was taking something away from you to tell you all the reasons why I didn’t want to do the coming out thing with you. And I tried, Allura. I tried to go along with it, I tried to stop it. I was back and forth. And then it happened so fast.”

“Tell me about it.”

“I don’t know. I thought I was protecting you but if I had told you, maybe things would have gone down completely different.”

“You were trying to do the right thing,” Allura said, “and so was I. People aren’t perfect, you know. We fuck up.”

“That’s the hope,” Leandro stared at the floor. There was more silence. It was more comfortable this time. 

“Come on,” Allura stood up, “let’s go get breakfast.”

“What?” Leandro asked, “Right now? Are you sure?”

“Yeah man, I’m sure. It’s only, like, thirty percent because we’re being practically forced out of here by that sea of awkwardness.”

“Thirty percent?” Leandro repeated.

“Look, dude, I’m sick of apologizing and feeling guilty and I know you are. I’m pretty sure without each other we’re going to die in this madness. So,” she shrugged, “pancakes?”

“Are you sure?” Leandro asked again.

“Yeah. In light of new information, I’ve kind of lost track of why this fight we had got so out of control in the first place. My olive branch takes the form of Rusty’s breakfast burritos. Are you in?”

“Yes,” Leandro grinned, “hell yes.”

“After you,” Allura opened the window and gestured out. Leandro responded by climbing through and sliding down the roof.

* * *

“So then I told her, that is a wild animal, and it does not need to be in here, while standing on the desk as far away from the animal as I can get and what does she say? What does Nyma say?”

“Oh my god,” Leandro was putting the finishing touches on his pancake house.

“She says, this is not a wild animal, this is a performer.”

“Ohhhhh myyyyy goddddd,” Leandro repeated.

“That is precisely what I said. She explained that she stole it from the fucking travelling circus. And I said that I was going to hit her with a surfboard if she didn’t get out of there.”

“What happened after that?”

“Well, I mean, obviously she immediately got the fuck out of there.”

“What happened to the bear, though?” Leandro asked.

“I have literally no idea and I am so so afraid to ask,” Allura shook her head, “that’s the lamest pancake house I’ve ever seen in my life, by the way.”

“You think you could do better?” Leandro scoffed.

“I know I can because I have.”

“What is it with you and turning everything into a competition?” Leandro asked.

“You do the same thing,” Allura pointed out.

“Yeah, but it’s adorable when I do it. On you, it’s completely obnoxious,” Leandro explained with the shit eating grin of shit eating grins.

“About as adorable as the time you stuck straws up your nose and we had to take you to the hospital.”

“Why do you even remember that?” Leandro demanded, “that was literally fifteen years ago, Allura.”

“It’s in the best friend handbook. Your best friend does something embarrassing, you are legally required to keep a detailed account of the events. They tell you that at the academy,” she was beginning to build a pancake house of her own.

“I’ve missed this,” Leandro said.

“Me too,” Allura smiled,

“Your pancake house is going to fall immediately over.”

“What? No it isn’t!” Allura protested.

“You were a great pancake house builder back in your day. But you’re washed up. You’re rusty.”

“How dare you?” Allura suppressed a grin.

“First of all, you’re not even building a solid base.”

“It’s a pancake house, not an actual house,” Allura rolled her eyes.

“If you stick the base to the plate with syrup, it’s easier to build off of.”

“That is  _ definitely _ cheating,” Allura locked eyes with him.

“Yeah, well, if it works,” Leandro leaned back in his chair and proceeded to nearly fall over.

“Have you always been this clumsy?” Allura asked.

“Shut up and help me with my pancake house.”

“Y’all know you’re supposed to eat the pancakes, right?” A server asked with an arched brow.

“Playing with food has a bad reputation. It’s completely underrated,” Allura argued.

“This is true. It increases the deliciousness factors by twelve percent,” Leandro agreed.

“Whatever,” the server said with an awkward smile.

“Now,” Allura directed her attention back at Leandro, “about Hunk.”

“What about him?” Leandro asked.

“How is that situation going?” 

“I don’t know. Good I think?” Leandro shrugged, “We’re as close as ever. He’s my best friend.”

“Hey!” Allura protested.

“You know what I mean. My other best friend.”

“Well, you know that’s not what I was getting at.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Leandro was playing coy.

“Oh nothing just your,” Allura inhaled and threw her head back, “ENORMOUS CRUSH!”

“Must we scream it to the whole restaurant?”

“Relax. It’s empty,” Allura pointed out.

“Well, if it wasn’t, you would be so dead right now.”

“Sure, sure,” Allura rolled her eyes, “anyway, when are you going to tell him?”

“Let’s see. What day is today? Hm. I was thinking...never!” 

“Seriously?” Allura folded her arms.

“What’s the urgency? My crush clearly isn’t going away on its own. It’s not like it won’t still be there when we get back.”

“You are literally on a romantic getaway. A romcom director couldn’t come up with a better time or place,” Allura sat back in her chair.

“We are not on a romantic getaway!” 

“Well, you would be if you hadn’t brought along the entire graduating class,” Allura retorted.

“Yeah, yeah,” Leandro rolled his eyes. 

“I’m just saying that-” she was cut off by his phone starting to ring. It was Julia.

“Saved by the bell,” Leandro said.

“We should probably abandon our architecture, finish eating and get back before your mom has a heart attack.”

“Agreed.”

Leandro answered the phone. Evidently, the smoke had cleared and they were safe to come back home.


	10. An Awkward Attempt at Normalcy

They all met up for dinner at a funky little dive at the side of the beach that Allura hated for no discernable reason. Red stopped Leandro to talk to him outside. They didn’t smoke, so there was no good reason for them to be standing outside at night. So they pretended to be very enthusiastically observing an anthill.

“So, is everything, like,” Red squinted at an ant carrying what appeared to be a waffle cone fragment, “okay?”

“Uh, define okay,” Leandro locked eyes with her.

“Sorry, I know I’m not usually the person you come to for,” Red sighed, “I just know you’re not really talking to Allura and things have been really weird between you and Hunk so I just figured that I would...You know.”

“Actually, Allura and I made up,” Leandro corrected.

“Oh yeah?” Red sort of half-smiled.

“We’ve discovered that as long as our family is going to be continuously fucked up we ought to stick together,” he explained, “you know, unless we want to both snap and go on individual killing rampages.”

“Yeah, I like your family a lot but they’re a little...intense sometimes,” Red said, “not that I would really know. Having met them like a day ago.”

“You’re right though. We all just love each other. But that doesn’t stop us from saying the wrong thing sometimes. Most times. Near constantly in fact.”

Red laughed.

“Yeah, you know. I never really got to know my family all that much,” Red lowered her voice, “but I know a lot about saying the wrong thing. I’m kind of the best at it.”

“So Shiro has told me,” Leandro nodded, “I’m definitely abandoning my plan to come out to my entire family. At least for now.”

“That was gonna be a thing at one point?” Red asked, “I feel like I vaguely recall you mentioning that, but…”

“It was. And then I told Carmen and I love Carmen and she’s the best but kind of in the face of everything going on lately I sort of wish that I hadn’t told her,” Leandro explained.

“Yeah,” Red drew her attention back to the anthill, “yeah, I could definitely see that.”

“I think I’m going to stop trying to fix everything,” Leandro said, “I mean. That is for sure my problem. Allura thinks so too.”

“It’s for sure not like, psychologist recommended to do that,” Red agreed, “Shiro at least would probably chew your head off for it.”

“Red, not helping.”

“Sorry.”

“I have no idea when it even started. The meddling. The wanting to fix things. I think it has roots in being a child of divorce but even then, I knew my parents were happier apart,” Leandro explained, “or maybe it has something to do with my friends having less than perfect home lives themselves growing up.”

“Dude.”

“What?”

“Duuude.”

“What?” Leandro glared at her.

“What the hell are you doing right now?” Red asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean you’re in the middle of this ridiculous familial shit storm that is beyond anything any normal teenage boy would know how to fix ever, and you’re sitting here in a parking lot staring at an anthill psychoanalyzing yourself at me, not to mention trying to blame yourself for something that is not even in the same dimension as being your fault.”

“I am not-”

Red gave him a look.

“Okay, maybe I am,” Leandro sighed, “I just...never knew how weird it was is all.”

“How weird what is?”

“Like, okay, look. My mom considers herself a matchmaker.”

“Yeah, you’ve mentioned,” Red nodded.

“She always tries to do what’s right for other people, but she does it in the most spectacularly and almost hilariously awful method imaginable. And I’ve always thought that I would never do that. I would never mess with someone’s life like that just because I personally felt like it was the right thing to do.”

“Hm.”

“But I really have been doing that all along, I just haven’t registered it as the same thing. Me wanting my siblings to make up is like, maybe not the same level of bad as my mom making jokes about me and Allura getting together for literally my entire life, but it’s in the same stratosphere. This is, like, news.”

“Yeah.”

“Like, it never really registered that it was the same thing to me until my dad was there, and he was working so hard to fix this thing that was, like Rose and my mom and everybody said, not his to fix. And he didn’t even realize he was meddling is what was worse! He just thought he was giving them a little nudge. He thought he was helping, but he really just made it worse.”

“And now you’re worried that you’ve been subconsciously doing the same thing,” Red finished.

“Yeah,” Leandro snorted, “god. Ugh. Yeah.”

“I get that.”

“And you know, I’m not glad that all of this went down. I’m not glad that I had to find out that my older brother is homophobic or that Rose is actually doing a lot worse than I am comfortable perceiving her as doing, or that my dad meddled.”

“But if it was going to happen, you’re glad you could walk away with a...what are they called again because my brain is coming up with Tiffany and I’m positive that’s not right.”

“Epiphany?”

“Right,” Red nodded, “autism. Words just fall out of my brain, you know how it is.”

“Yeah,” Leandro smiled, “thanks.”

“For what?” Red asked.

“I dunno. For being just ludicrously easy to talk to,” Leandro answered.

“You’re welcome, I guess,” Red said, and Leandro laughed.

“Can I ask you one more thing before we go inside?”

“Sure. Make it quick or Shiro is gonna come out here thinking we got eaten by ants.”

“What did you mean when you said things were weird between me and Hunk.”

“I uh,” Red’s spine tensed, “I dunno. I don’t know either one of you well enough to be, like, some kind of expert on-”

“It’s okay, dude, I promise whatever it is you think you’ve picked up on, I’m not going to be mad about it.”

“Okay,” Red sighed, “mostly I’ve noticed the two of you have been kind of…dancing around each other I guess.”

“What do you mean by dancing,” Leandro mimed a waltz, “...like?”

“No I mean,” Red laughed, “it’s just a vibe I’ve been picking up on is all. You know. You guys are really close and I’ve never like...had that kind of closeness. I mean, Shiro of course. But it’s not the same. I guess it’s easy to misinterpret. Totally none of my business.”

“Oh,” Leandro said, “well. Yeah. People who know I’m gay tend to assume-”

“But that’s not what I was trying to do, like at all. That’s annoying when people do that.”

“Yeah, agreed. I don’t think that you’re doing that here though,” Leandro said.

“No?”

“No. I think, actually,” Leandro paused, “you may be onto something.”

“Really?” Red asked.

“And holy fucking shit please do not be weird about it. Every person that I’ve talked to about it so far has been super weird. I tried to talk to Allura about it, and then we had that whole constructive conversation that made my chest hurt. And then I tried to tell Carmen about it and it turned into kind of a coming out fiasco so, like, I’m begging you to...to...”

“To what, exactly?”

“To keep behaving like normal Red. Like cool and funny and nice and somehow also mean at the same time. Basically I’m asking you to keep being yourself here.”

“That was the plan,” Red raised an eyebrow.

“But now we have a verbal agreement.”

“Good. okay. Sure.”

“Good, yes,” Leandro ran his fingers through his hair, “you know, it didn’t start out like this. It was actually just a few days ago that I realized I was having feelings, though it feels like a long time ago now. And I’m beginning to wonder if the feelings are actually there or if I’m just so desperate to have an epic romance of some kind that I’m projecting it on the only guy in the direct vicinity that can qualify as eligible.”

“I think if Shiro was here he’d probably say something really smart, like...uh…”

“No, don’t be Shiro. Be you. I want your thoughts on this.”

“Okay. You keep being you too.”

“Sounds good,” Leandro laughed.

“In my romantic escapades, and by that I mean listening to Shiro complain about his for the past eight years and other people before him, I think I’ve figured out that if you spend this much time and energy speculating on whether or not your feelings are real and thinking about that person enough for your mind to drift there in the first place...well…”

“I’m not making the best case for not liking Hunk right now, am I?”

“Not even a little bit.”

“What’s weird is like, when I started thinking about it, I realized that if these feelings really are real and not like...whatever. You know. I think they’re not new. I think they’ve been there, just underneath everything else for like, god, I don’t know how long.”

“Hm.”

“But you know, it’s not like I’m gonna act on these feelings regardless of if they’re real or not.”

“No?” Red asked.

“No. I have a good thing going with Hunk. He’s my best friend, and I would never want things to get awkward between us. Like. I already have enough of that going on at home right now.”

“I’ve noticed. But I’m pretty sure you should deal with your feelings at some point. Sitting on them forever is for sure a bad idea.”

“Well, what would you do?” Leandro asked.

“...pretty much sit on them forever,” Red responded.

“Well…”

“Well nothing. Fuck off,” Red leaned against the wall.

“But if that is what you would do…”

“Don’t listen to me. I’m a goddamn trainwreck. I’ve never had a girlfriend before, and I think that’s partially because of my stubborn refusal to address anything that even comes close to being a feeling.”

“Hm,” Leandro squinted.

“Look,” Red was going to have to tread very lightly to say this, “I think, even if you think there’s no possibility whatsoever of him ever feeling the same way-”

“You’re doing great. Absolutely stellar,” Leandro said, and Red punched him lightly in the arm.

“I’m not saying he doesn’t or wouldn’t. I don’t know him well enough to make that judgement call,” she lied, “but even if he doesn’t, the worst case is you tell him about your feelings, clear the air, and then yeah, maybe it will be a little awkward. But you won’t feel guilty for hiding something from him and he won’t feel like a bad friend for, like, this vague sense of feeling like he’s making you uncomfortable. And then both of you will feel so much better.”

“Hm…”

“That is the worst case scenario. The worst case. And it sounds pretty good,” Leandro didn’t respond for what felt like an eternity, so she added, “say something, dude. You’re freaking me out.”

“Red?” 

“Yeah?” 

“How did you get to be so smart about this stuff?” Leandro asked.

“I am not. I am way not. I’ve just,” Red sighed, “foster homes. A lot of them. Lots of high schoolers. Too embarrassed to talk about their problems with their real friends. I had to hear, like, a shitload of relationship problems.”

“Kind of like when I go to a family reunion and my tia asks me for my opinion on how many times her coworker has smiled at her in the last week and what it means and I’m like, dude, I’m thirteen. I have no idea what the hell you’re talking about.”

“Precisely that, yes,” Red nodded.

“Yo, are you dorks going to come in? The food has arrived,” Allura opened the door beside them.

“How? We haven’t even ordered,” Leandro raised an eyebrow.

“You guys were taking forever and I thought if I had to go without food for one more minute I was going to fully eat the napkin dispenser, so I ordered for you,” Allura explained.

“Why would you do that?” Leandro asked, “You could have just asked us to come in sooner, you lunatic.”

“No, because I know how you work. You were going to grab the menu, stare at each individual item, read the ingredients out loud so you could be sure you liked everything, argued with me for ten full minutes about whether or not removing like half the goddamn ingredients would make it lose its quality-”

“I get the point,” Leandro narrowed his eyes, “what, exactly, did you order?”

“Five alarm chili cheese fries. And I grabbed like fifty of those hot sauce bottles off the counter because even in this city, five alarm ain’t hot enough,” Allura turned her attention towards Red, “you I had to swing a guess for. Regular cheese fries. I hope that’s cool.”

“Perfect,” Red smiled.

“Great. Now get in here,” she commanded.

“Allura’s a little meaner than she seems at first glance, isn’t she?” Red raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, yeah. It’s one of my favorite things about her, actually. That she’s so bossy. Makes going out to eat a lot easier. Given that I’m, you know, a metric pain in the ass when it comes to that.”

“Okay,” Red laughed, “we’d better go before she actually does kill us.”

“Word.”

* * *

By the time they got back to the house, the parents were asleep. No awkward stumblings around this nuanced issue from people about as nuanced as a coloring book. So everyone went directly to bed. Before four am, even. A miracle.

Leandro, though, Leandro kept thinking about that thing that Red told him. It just kept echoing in his mind, this idea that the worst case scenario would still leave him relieved and feeling like a weight was lifted.

But he wasn’t going to talk to Hunk about this here, certainly not after everything had gotten so over the top complicated out of nowhere. Hi, Hunk, now that my family is in complete shambles, do you think you want to be my boyfriend so you have to deal with this ridiculous family on a semi regular basis? Nah.

Still, though, it did occur to Leandro that talking about his feelings at least with Red had made him feel exponentially better. Maybe it would help if he could get it written down.

He would need to be sneaky about where he stashed this written down thing, given that Hunk did have a tendency to read anything and everything. Maybe Leandro could write it down and throw it into the bottom of the ocean. No. He felt like that could be bad for the environment, even though he was pretty sure that paper in water was a non-issue? It would dissolve but what about the ink? What about the glue?

Well, whatever, in any case he felt like he did need to get it written down in any shape or form, so he swung his legs over the side of the bed and made his way for the desk at the center of the room. He took the blanket with him, so that the light wouldn’t disturb either Hunk or Carmen, and Leandro was reminded suddenly how weird this situation was.

He started writing. Well, he started hovering his pen over the piece of paper. His phone buzzed.

**At 3:45 am, Carmen Sandiego wrote**

Dude.

What the hell are you doing over there

**At 3:45 am, you wrote**

I’m writing.

**At 3:46 am, Carmen Sandiego wrote**

What the hell could you be writing at four in the morning? A fucking dear John letter?

**At 3:48 am, you wrote**

Yes, Carm. A dear John letter. 

**At 3:49 am, you wrote**

I’m taking the kids in the divorce.

**At 3:50 am, Carmen Sandiego wrote**

Dude. seriously.

**At 3:50 am, you wrote**

“Seriously” it is none of your concern.

I’m just writing.

**At 3:55 am, Carmen Sandiego wrote**

Is this about the...stuff that I said earlier

**At 3:59 am, you wrote**

What?

**At 4:00 am, Carmen Sandiego wrote**

The stuff about being gay.

I dunno. I felt like it was the right thing to defend.

But I think I went about it in entirely the wrong way

And I don’t think that like it’s any of my business to go around, like,

**At 4:02 am, Carmen Sandiego wrote**

I dunno. It’s definitely like something I should do, instead of the sitting in silence roll your eyes while your parents say awful things

But I don’t think that I should have, you know, a knight and shining armor thing about it.

Which I do. 

I mean, sort of.

I try not to. But it happens.

**At 4:05 am, Carmen Sandiego wrote**

And I’m not gonna pretend I would have even noticed that I had been like that had you guys not stormed off.

And I’m not gonna pretend either that I’m trying to act like this is a natural thing in the world of allyship

Because it isn’t. Or it shouldn’t be. I guess.

There I go again.

**At 4:07 am, Carmen Sandiego wrote**

And I didn’t want to steal your moment before, but like. I’m not really all that sure that I’m straight anyway.

I’m definitely not cis. I’m not, like, transmasculine either. I vibe with some of the concepts of womanhood but I’ve always felt like sort of an outsider

And I think hanging out with other gay and trans people especially Rose and Hazel and all of my roadie friends.

Has helped

Immensely.

And I don’t know what is going on with my sexuality. I’m just like, you know, whatever, man.

**At 4:09 am, Carmen Sandiego wrote**

And I wasn’t even going to, like, tell you that.

Or anyone that.

Quite honestly who gives a shit. 

Not me

Especially during a shitstorm of this magnitude. 

Especially when I don’t even have this shit figured out

**At 4:10 am, Carmen Sandiego wrote**

But idk. 

It’s important to me that you don’t think I’m like

Some unstoppable cis straight moron

Parading around as if “woker” than everyone else in the immediate vicinity

Anyway. Goodnight.

**At 4:11 am, you wrote**

Holy fucking shit, Carm. I thought my phone was genuinely about to fucking blow up.

Also yes that does put things you said earlier into perspective...like a lot...in fact it makes me feel bad how much me and Allura bonded over feeling weird abt the things you said.

Anyway. 

Thanks for telling me.

Love you.

<3

**At 4:14 am, Carmen Sandiego wrote**

<3

* * *

“You’re probably all wondering why I’ve gathered you here today,” Robin said. 

“Not really, Dad, given that you said ‘we’re going to the RV for a jam session,” Carmen rolled her eyes.

“Sh! Let me be dramatic!” Robin commanded, “In an effort to feel less supremely shitty about how the last few days have gone, I will lend you all my instruments. Whichever one you choose!”

“You’re not worried we’re going to breathe on them wrong?” Julia raised an eyebrow.

“Or that our destructive oils are gonna cause them to catch fire?” Leandro chimed in.

“Or worried that we’ll accidentally somehow throw your entire drum kit out of the window?” Carmen asked.

“Anyway,” Robin elected to ignore them, “who here knows how to play an instrument?”

“Dad, you already know what kind of-”

“I was not talking to you, Carmen. I already know you can play just about any instrument in this RV,” Robin rolled his eyes.

“I play a little bit of keyboard,” Katie chimed in, “I can play a mean groove box, if you have one.”

“If I have one,” Robin tsked, “of course. I have five. Take your pick.”

“I can play the bass,” Red added.

“Stop that,” Leandro said.

“Stop what?” Red raised an eyebrow.

“Stop being so much cooler than me. It’s fucking infuriating,” Leandro seethed.

“I’ll try,” Red shrugged.

“You’re fucking doing it again!” Leandro exclaimed.

“I have legitimately no clue what you’re talking about, and you’re kind of screaming,” Red blinked at him.

“You don’t even realize you’re doing it! That is even worse!” Leandro threw his hands up.

“Everyone who does not know how, just pick an instrument that feels like it would be the most fun for you to mess around with,” Robin instructed, “otherwise-”

He didn’t even get to finish his sentence before his phone started ringing. He took it out.

“Oh my god, what is that ancient form of technology you hold in your palm?” Carmen gasped dramatically.

“It’s a flip phone, smartass,” Robin rolled his eyes.

“Asshole,” Carmen grinned.

“You call each other names now?” Julia asked.

“Sorry mom. The road is like the sea, and we are the sailors,” Carmen explained in her best dude from Jaws impression.

“You certainly eat like sailors,” Julia sighed. Robin was just staring at his phone.

“What’s wrong, Dad?” Carmen asked.

“Darling, who is it?” Julia asked.

“It’s…” Robin hesitated, “It’s Diego.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> RUH ROH


	11. Bembelequero

Robin stared at the phone in his pocket as it continued to buzz. He looked up at the others as if to ask them what to do. Finally, Allura stepped forward.

“I think you should answer,” she said, deliberately not making eye contact with anyone, “it might be an emergency.”’

Robin nodded and flipped open his entirely ancient phone.

“Hello?” the others watched his expression for change. “Hm. I suppose that doesn’t sound unreasonable. Allura too? Right of course, not everyone. And why exactly should I...oh. I see. I’ll ask. bye.”

He hung up the phone. The others, namely Leandro, just kept staring at him.

“What did he say?” Julia asked.

“He wants the chance to explain himself. He says he has not earned it, but he would like a chance to. What we do with the information is our decision,” Robin explained, “but he doesn’t want all of us there. He wants me, Julia, and Allura.”

“Me?” Allura’s muscles tensed, “why me?”

“He did not say,” Robin explained, “but he did not give us much time to speculate. He wants to meet for lunch right away.”

“And...what are you going to do?” Julia asked.

“I believe that should be left up to Allura as he deliberately mentioned her,” Robin locked eyes with Allura, “I would never want to do a thing that made you uncomfortable.”

“Uh,” Allura said, ironically very uncomfortable right this minute, “just one lunch, right? I can handle that.”

“Okay,” Robin sighed, “you kids continue your jam session. I don’t want you sitting around worried or speculating.”

“Of course we’re going to speculate,” Leandro rolled his eyes, “but we’ll have the decency to do it in the privacy of our own minds.”

“Good,” Robin furrowed his brow, “Julia, get your coat.”

“It’s ninety degrees out,” she scoffed, “get your coat…”

“Well, whatever it is you need to do,” Robin shrugged.

“We can take my car,” Allura suggested.

“Why your car?” Julia asked.

“Because,” Allura explained, “both of you are nervous drivers. That’s what Hazel says, anyway. Let’s go.”

She took out her car keys and Julia and Robin followed the girl with the panda bear keychain. Everyone stood extremely silent and extremely still until they heard Allura’s engine turn over.

“Well, there’s no need to waste all these perfectly good instruments,” Leandro grabbed a guitar off the wall. A Gibson les Paul, “I missed you baby.”

“You’re not even the least bit concerned about…” Hunk trailed off.

“Not even a little,” Leandro plugged the guitar into an amp, “I’m done worrying about who said what and who’s the most upset. I was having a great vacation before that started, and I’m going to keep having a great vacation.”

“If you say so,” Carmen shrugged.

“Man,” Leandro strummed a few notes on the guitar, “she still plays like a dream.”

“She?” Carmen asked, “Like a boat?”

“Yes,” Leandro paid no mind to her sarcastic tone, “like a boat.”

“Alright,” Carmen rolled her eyes, “Hunk, Shiro, do you guys play anything?”

“I played the clarinet in high school orchestra,” Shiro answered.

“Oh that must have been before…” Carmen trailed off, and started to wish that she was somewhere else.

“Before I lost my arm?” Shiro finished.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to be insensitive,” Carmen said, “you can be our singer, if you want.”

“You’re fine. Although I don’t like talking about...the accident,” he spoke with a dramatic tone, and the others rolled their eyes.

“My arm was eaten by an army of squirrels,” he said, staring out the window, “campus squirrels, man. They’re not to be trusted.”

“Oh, I, um,” Carmen started to look very concerned.

“He’s fucking with you,” Leandro explained, “it’s different every time he tells it.”

“My favorite was when he said he was bitten by a zombie,” Katie chimed in.

“My favorite was when he said he lost his arm in San Francisco,” Hunk added.

“I’m a fan of the ridiculous story with the dinosaur animatronic,” Red smirked.

“Well, if I’m not gonna crack jokes about it, who will?” Shiro asked.

“Nobody,” Leandro answered. 

“You’re correct. Absolutely nobody,” Shiro grinned, “I’m fine with being the singer, Carmen. I was also in choir.”

“Great. Hunk?” Carmen asked. Hunk seized.

“Uh…” he trailed off.

“Hunk has stage fright. We’re not making him participate,” Leandro said almost sternly.

“Come on. Everybody has to,” Carmen elbowed Hunk in the ribs.

“Carm, don’t make him,” Leandro insisted.

“Okay,” Carmen sighed, starting to unfold a keyboard stand, “so that’s, I assume, Penny on keyboard, Leandro on guitar, Katie on the groove box, Shiro on vocals, Red on bass...that leaves drums to me.”

“Sounds good,” Leandro shrugged. Carmen finished getting everyone’s instruments set up for them.

“Penny, follow me in G,” Carmen said, tapping the symbol.

“Like this?” Penny played along with her sister. 

“Perfect!” Carmen beamed, “Red and Leandro?”

They followed the tempo nearly perfectly with some slight embellishment. They stopped.

“Now, uh, Katie. Don’t follow their beat, just embellish off of mine, okay?” Carmen asked, sitting down. Katie, like the others, played a beat and then stopped.

“Like that?” Katie asked.

“Yes!” Carmen beamed, “okay. This is perfect. Now all at once. Shiro, join in when you’re comfortable. 4, 3, 2, 1!”

* * *

Diego sat alone in the corner of the restaurant. Robin was the first to take a step towards him, cautious as ever. The group approached him and sat down.

“Hello,” Robin greeted meekly. 

“Papi, Mami,” Diego nodded, “Allura. Thank you guys for joining me. I know that you’ve been reluctant to see me.”

“With good reason,” Allura added, “continue.”

“I took the liberty of ordering us all drinks. And I gave the server my card ahead of time so that there’s no insisting to pay,” Diego continued, “ice tea for ma, diet coke for pop, and one coke with a slice of lime for Allie.”

“Please don’t call me Allie right now,” Allura requested.

“You’re right. I shouldn’t. I’m sorry,” Diego rubbed the back of his neck. And the server arrived with the drinks. All four of them thanked him.

“So?” Allura asked, impatiently.

“So?” Diego repeated in confusion.

“You said that you wanted to explain yourself,” Allura folded her arms, “so explain.”

“Right,” Diego cleared his throat, “please know that the explanation I give is not an excuse. The way that I handled things was wrong no matter what I say.”

“I’m fully prepared to agree with you on that,” Allura narrowed her eyes. She may have agreed to come here, sure. But she never agreed to hide her feelings on how angry this whole thing made her.

“And I need all of you to promise that what we say, not a word of it gets to Rose,” Diego looked at them.

“What?” Robin asked.

“You can tell Leandro and Penny and Carm, hell, even all of Leandro’s school friends. But Rose can’t know any of it.”

“That is a ridiculous and unacceptable request,” Julia sputtered, “this is not about the way that you feel. It’s about the way that Rose feels. To keep amends that should be made to her secret-”

“Ma, please don’t argue with me. I need you guys to know what I did,” Diego insisted, “but she can’t. She’s already had enough to take emotionally.”

The three of them stared at him silently. It was Allura who agreed first.

“Fine. You have my word,” she said.

“I suppose, if Allura is on board,” Robin waved a hand.

“No,” Julia said.

“No?” Diego repeated.

“No,” Julia nodded, “this is where I draw the line. I will not lie to Rose for you. Not if you don’t plan to tell her,”

“That’s the thing,” Diego interjected, “I do want to tell her. But…”

“But?” Robin raised an eyebrow.

“But I’m not going to break her heart,” Diego said finally.

“Gordo, you have already broken her heart,” Julia pointed out.

“Ma, I wouldn’t ask you to do this thing for me if it wasn’t important. So I need you to promise me,” Diego’s voice was stern now, Robin and Allura looked at Julia to see what she would do.

“Have it your way,” she gestured dismissively. Diego sighed in relief. 

“Thank you all for agreeing,” Diego could not speak more than a few sentences in Spanish, but he had a trace of Robin and Julia’s accents nonetheless.

“Fine, we agree. Out with it,” Julia leaned against the edge of the table.

“Right,” Diego cleared his throat, “tia Lin does not like many people.”

“What does tia Lin have to do with any of this?” Allura raised an eyebrow.

“I will get to that,” Diego said, “tia Lin doesn’t even seem to like Ma, and vice versa. But she’s always loved Rosie. And Rosie loves her the same. They’re like best friends. But tia Lin is...well.”

“She’s a pendeja,” Julia said without hesitation.

“Mother!” Diego gasped.

“Am I wrong?” Julia shrugged.

“No,” Diego admitted, “no, you are not wrong. But that’s the thing. I never figured her to be cool with gay people. Of course, none of us have a bullshit religious reason to, but she’s always been...I mean, the story of how she met Dad…”

“Yes?” Julia raised an eyebrow.

“Just set in her ways. But when Claudia and Rose became engaged, she was nothing but supportive,” Diego continued, “she seemed very excited.”

“I recall. I’ve seen my sister smile very few times in my life,” Julia said, “that was one of them.”

“And I was ready to let all of my suspicions go. But at the engagement party, when me and Claudia were cleaning up in the kitchen, we overheard Lin talking on the phone.”

“Talking? To who?” Julia asked.

“I think she was talking to Douglas,” Diego answered, “but she said all these things about how Claudia and Rose were intent on making a spectacle of our family and something had to be done.”

“What kind of something?” Robin was beginning to get angry.

“She said she was going to destroy the wedding from the inside of it. Piece by piece. Stain Rose’s clothes, forget to book all of the food,” Diego explained, “that’s why she wanted to help. She wants to make sure Claudia and Rose has the worst wedding possible because in her words, their wedding was already a mockery.”

“I hate her,” Julia spoke through gritted teeth, “she does not deserve to have Rose in her life. That wonderful girl deserves better.”

“I agree,” Diego said, “and well, Claudia tried to explain to Rose what was going on, but-”

“Rose wouldn’t hear it,” Allura interrupted.

“Exactly,” Diego said, “she couldn’t believe that Claudia would say something like that about tia Lin. Rose’s best friend. It was one of their very few fights. It nearly broke up their engagement altogether. So Claudia and I hatched a scheme to delay the wedding, to make me the bad guy so that Rose wouldn’t need to know. But it went wrong.”

“The wedding is still on, Lin is still helping, and you don’t get to see your sister on the happiest day of her life,” Robin summarized.

“The way I went about things was wrong. I’ve broken my sister’s heart. And I don’t want it broken the second time if she finds out the truth. So I want you guys to figure out how to keep Lin away from that wedding. Go behind her back and fix everything that she tries to ruin,” Diego instructed.

“You don’t want her to know what happened?” Julia asked.

“She would want to know,” Allura said.

“That’s not true. If it were, she would have listened to Claudia in the first place,” Diego pointed out, “Rose is a very stubborn individual. A trait I suspect is hereditary.”

“I’m sure that the words would mean a lot more coming from you than from her,” Robin pointed out, “you know tia Lin. Claudia only met her once, a year ago.”

“It doesn’t matter if I can. What matters is that I won’t. After the wedding, I can come clean. She deserves to know. She does. But I don’t want tia Lin in her head and making her question her love for Claudia. Even though there’s not a doubt in my mind those two belong together.”

“But you’ll miss the most important day of your sister’s life,” Julia protested.

“I’m with Jules. This is ridiculous,” Allura agreed.

“But it is my choice,” Diego stood up, “as I said, my card is open. You may order whatever you’d like.”

There wasn’t time for that.

* * *

“So, uh,” Leandro tried to muster a response for the bombshell that had just been dropped on him, but he miserably failed.

“So what are we gonna do?” Carmen asked.

“Nothing,” Robin answered, “we are going to do nothing. It is not our business to tell.”

“You’d rather Rosie think her brother was homophobic?” Julia was almost baffled.

“No. But we have meddled enough in our children’s lives. We-meaning I-have hurt them more than I have helped. I am washing my hands of this thing between Diego and Rose, and I suggest that all of you do the same,” Robin said.

“But if he does tell her after the wedding, she’ll never forgive herself. You were right, Papi, they won’t be able to move past this,” Leandro said, 

“Forget what I said before,” Robin instructed sternly, “I am saying this now.”

“Way to stick to your guns, dad,” Carmen scoffed.

“De qué hablas, stick to your guns. What is that?” Robin folded his arms.

“To stand by your beliefs, Papi,” Carmen explained.

“My beliefs will change and evolve as the situation does,” Robin said.

“Since when?” Carmen snorted.

“Carmen, enough,” Julia warned.

“No, mami,” Carmen stood her ground, “this is a horrible idea. And I’m not going to go along with it.”

“We don’t want this family to be in pieces any more than you do,” Julia was growing short.

“If that was true you wouldn’t have-” 

“Don’t,” Julia said, “you know you can’t do that.”

Carmen opened her mouth to respond. When nothing came out, she stormed back inside, presumably not to entertain the guests who seemed to be making a habit of tweedling their thumbs as they waited for the family to come to an agreement. Julia hoped they knew that they caught this family on a bad week.

“God damn it,” Julia huffed, “everyone back inside now. We are listening to Robbie. And we are not going to let this ruin the spring break. We are going to order food and we are going to forget this ever happened until Leandro goes back to school. We have guests, and we owe it to them to be good hosts.”

Julia opened the door and walked back inside. Robin followed.

“Having fun yet?” Leandro asked Penny sarcastically.

“Actually, yes,” Penny answered, “I’m glad I got to meet your friends, at least.”

“You’re not upset about the family drama, Nena?” he took her hand.

“Nah. Not that much, anyway. There’s always family drama. You know that as well as I do. And we wear our hearts on our sleeves, so it’s hard for us to hide it.”

“Ah, yes, mantén tu latón con tapa is practically the antithesis of the Rivera-Cruz family,” Leandro agreed, “hey, kiddo. You wanna go get ice cream with me and the gang after dinner?”

“What kind of ridiculous question is that?” Penny asked.

“Is that a yes?” Leandro grinned.

“Is orange sherbet my favorite substance on planet Earth?” Her question was rhetorical. 

“Not without chocolate on top, it’s not,” Leandro answered. Penny smiled.

“I love you,” she said.

“I love you too, Nena,” Leandro echoed.

“Promise me we’re never gonna fight like them,” Penny requested.

“You’re too cute for me to stay mad at,” Leandro pointed out, “you know that. ”

“Leandro, I’m being serious,” Penny locked eyes with him. He did not answer at first. Instead, he picked her up, spun her twice, and kissed her on the forehead.

“I can’t promise that we’ll never fight,” he said, “but what I can is that I’ll always love you more than anything else in the world.”

“Even if I killed somebody?” Penny asked.

“I’d help you bury the body in the woods,” Leandro answered, and messed up her hair. They linked arms, and went back inside.

* * *

“Carmen,” Julia called out as she climbed the stairs to the attic, Robin behind her.

“She’s not here,” Carmen called back from under her blankets.

“Mmhm,” Julia helped Robin up the rest of the stairs. Robin closed the hatch behind her.

“Carmen, we have some questions to ask you,” Robin said.

“I’m not answering any of them,” Carmen said.

“Okay,” Robin sat on her bed, “then allow me to say that I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for what, exactly?” Julia asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I’m sorry for not being clear to you, Carmen. For forcing you to come to your own conclusions and getting the wrong idea. That is my fault,” Robin said. There was silence, and then…

“Mami calls your marriage the best mistake she’s ever made,” Carmen managed, “is that all it was? A mistake?”

“Perhaps it is time to retire that joke,” Julia sat down next to her ex husband, “I didn’t realize it was having this effect on you.”

“Our marriage was no mistake,” Robin continued, “I would do it all over again. I don’t regret settling down with her and having you kids for a second. On our worst days, it’s still the best decision of my life.”

“Your father and I love each other very much. We always have and we always will,” Julia hovered a hand over the sentient blanket pile.

“You’re making it worse,” Carmen huffed.

“Making it worse?” Julia asked.

“That’s my point. I wouldn’t want you to stay together if you weren’t in love. But you are. So just be together!”

Julia and Robin looked at each other. Then back at Carmen.

“It’s not that simple,” Julia said. 

“Why not?” Carmen asked.

“It just isn’t,” Julia answered.

“No, Jules. No more of that,” Robin said, “she deserves an explanation. So we will tell her.”

“Okay,” Julia nodded, “we thought we already had. But I suppose if we made it clear, you wouldn’t be up here crying.”

“I’m not crying,” Carmen protested unconvincingly.

“Of course not,” Robin said, “your mother and I, although we do love each other, are very incompatible people.”

“You used to say your difference was your strength,” Carmen pointed out. 

“It was. Still is. It’s why we’re such good friends now. But we have fundamentally different views of life,” Julia explained, “your father wasn’t happy here, and I wasn’t happy knowing that he wasn’t. He wanted to see the world. I wanted to plant my roots somewhere. I wasn’t fulfilled because some part of me knew that I was holding him back, and he was holding me back, too.”

“We considered staying together, for your sake. But we didn’t want your representation of what a healthy relationship looks like to be one built on obligation to stay together. It wasn’t fair to you, and it wasn’t fair to us either. So we broke up.”

“And we were both heartbroken for a very long time because we loved each other. But we’ve been so much happier since, following our dreams and being together as friends and raising you kids even if it’s not together. And the love we have for each other is stronger than ever. But it’s a different kind of love. You need to understand that.”

“I do,” Carmen said softly.

“It breaks my heart to know you’ve been carrying around these feelings for so long,” Robin put a hand on Carmen, “what makes you say these things now?”

“I don’t know. You’re both staying in the same house and seeing you together but not together always upsets me a little,” Carmen confessed, “I’ve been able to keep it together, but now with everything going on between Diego and Rosie,” Carmen pulled back the sheets and sat up, “I’m sorry for yelling.”

“We’re sorry too,” Robin pulled Carmen into a hug.

“You promise that if you ever feel something like this again, you’ll tell us,” Julia said sternly.

“Otherwise you just explode,” Robin said.

“Yeah, okay,” Carmen squeezed her father tight. Julia joined in. 

“Now, I’m gonna go back downstairs and cover for you,” Julia said.

“Say I have gum in my hair,” Carmen suggested.

“You guys coming?” Julia asked, “After you get cleaned up, I mean.”

“Stop looking like a pufferfish?” Carmen asked.

“I absolutely did not say that,” Julia protested.

“Nah, I think I’m gonna stay here for a minute,” Carmen hugged her father tighter.


	12. A "friendly" Game of Cards

There was one thing that was certain, despite the migraine causing family drama and the fighting and the wrestling with his feelings with Hunk and whatever that coming out thing was, Leandro was really, really glad to be back.

There was nothing in this world like a sunrise in Leandro’s hometown. Over the ocean reflecting the light it looked sort of like he was surfing on a rainbow.

Allura was there with him, a little more polished since she did this every day. Red was just a complete natural. The rest had opted to stay home, reluctant to go to the beach at sunrise. When the waves rested, they sat on the beach and listened to Allura and Leandro’s old playlist.

“I have a question for Red,” Allura crunched her knees to her chest.

“Ask away,” Red shrugged away the sand on her shoulder.

“Does Leandro still sing in the shower?” Allura asked.

“All the time,” Red took a sip of her drink, “his favorite is Me Enamoré. I have it memorized. It’s honestly good Spanish practice.”

“I’m not that loud,” Leandro protested.

“You are,” Allura said, “but it’s cool. Free music!”

“Like a private concert,” Red nodded.

“Do you still hum the theme song to I dream of Jeannie constantly?” Leandro retorted.

“I don’t do that!” Allura protested.

“Red, back me up here.” Leandro nudged Red with her elbow.

“Yeah, I’ve definitely heard you doing that,” Red answered.

“Traitor,” Leandro shook his head.

“We should probably be getting back soon,” Allura said, “we do have other things that we need to do today.”

“But why?” Leandro groaned, “All I wanna do is surf with you guys. All day. For the rest of my life after that maybe.”

“Your little school buddies are only here for a few more days,” Allura pointed out, “there will be plenty of time to surf with Red and me over the summer.”

“She never officially agreed to that,” Leandro said, “you’re definitely scaring her off.”

“I am not scaring her off,” Allura scoffed.

“No, but you’re definitely pressuring her,” Leandro stood.

“I’m just suggesting that _if_ she comes for summer-”

“I will,” Red chimed in. Leandro and Allura looked towards her.

“Really?” Allura beamed. She quickly suppressed her grin so as to not look too excited.

“Yeah. I don’t have anything else going on this summer. And I really like it here. so,” Red locked eyes with Leandro, “I mean unless you don’t want me to.”

“What?” Leandro shook his head, “Of course I do. I just wanted to make sure that you did, you know. And that you didn’t do it just out of obligation.”

“Don’t make it out to be a bigger deal than it is,” Red rolled her eyes, “if I didn’t want to go, I wouldn’t have gone. Same as last week. I wouldn’t have gotten into the car if I didn’t want to go.”

“So you really want to?” Leandro asked.

“I really do,” Red answered, “don’t make it a bigger deal than it has to be, Rivera.”

“It is the biggest deal!” Leandro turned up the music on the small waterproof speaker, “Let’s celebrate.”

“If you think that you’re going to make me dance...again, you’re mistaken,” Red dug her heels as far into the sand as they would go, which was to say, not very far at all. But Leandro extended a hand anyway.

“Don’t wanna give you up,” Leandro sang along, “don’t wanna let you love somebody-”

“Stop it, stop singing!” Red commanded.

“Come on, you know you want to,” Leandro said. 

So Red took his hand. But instead of dancing with him, she pushed him back into the water.

“And I was just starting to dry off!” Leandro scrambled to his feet, intent on revenge. 

“I told you I wasn’t going to dance,” Red pointed out.

“Alright, so you don’t dance,” Leandro filled a pail with sand, “let’s see how you run.”

“Leandro, put the bucket down,” Red began backing away.

“Oh, he’s not bluffing,” Allura chimed in, “run.”

“Jesus Christ,” Red rolled her eyes, but she did begin running, Leandro sped after her.

* * *

“Okay. Nobody move. What the hell is that?” Penny asked.

“It looks like…vomit,” Shiro observed.

“Oh that better not be vomit on the kitchen floor,” Carmen shuddered, “Mami is making me do the floors today while she’s at work.”

“Why does it look so sticky, is my question,” Katie squinted.

“That thing you all are talking about, you had better not,” Hunk chimed in from the living room.

“Is it like...pea soup?” Penny asked.

“Hey,” Leandro said cheerfully as he opened the door.

“What the hell are you guys doing?” Allura asked.

“We’re trying to figure out what the fuck this stuff on the floor is,” Carmen explained.

“It looks like-” Red started.

“It’s not vomit!” Hunk shouted.

“I wasn’t going to say that!” Red protested, “Fake vomit, maybe.”

“Maybe it’s guacamole,” Leandro suggested.

“It’s too smooth. And also the wrong color. If your avocados look like that, there is something wrong with them,” Katie pointed out.

“What are we talking about here?” Hazel asked.

“Oh, we’re trying to figure out what-” Leandro froze, “Hazel!”

“Hey, kiddo!” Hazel lifted Leandro up and hugged him.

“I didn’t know you were coming!” Leandro was speaking at a volume that could put quite a few opera singers to shame.

“I didn’t either. It was just an impromptu…” she trailed off, “hang on. What the hell is that?”

“We’ve been trying to figure that out for like ten minutes,” Penny explained, rushing over to give Hazel a hug.

“Well, it wasn’t here when we left, that’s for sure,” Leandro chimed in, “and if none of you know what it is, that leaves one option…”

“Papi,” Carmen nodded. Speak of the devil. 

“Robbie,” Hazel greeted.

“Hazel!” Robin flashed a grin, “What the hell are you doing here?”

“My best friend needs me, I’m there,” Hazel acted slightly offended at his surprise.

“Yo, Papi,” Carmen motioned him over, “can you tell us what this is on the floor?”

“On the floor?” Robin knitted his brow and walked over.

“Can you tell me what it is?” Penny asked.

“I know exactly what this is,” Robin said, and walked over to the fridge. He pulled out the blender.

“What exactly is that?” Shiro asked.

“This, my friends,” he paused for dramatic effect, “is a cocktail I invented in college.”

“Oh no,” Hazel groaned, finally catching wind, “don’t mean to tell me I left you alone for a few days and you’re making these again.”

“I call her envy,” Robin continued, seemingly ignoring his friend, “on account of the color and the envy it sparks in people who do not have it.”

“I envy people who are not within fifty yards of that horrible concoction,” Hazel crinkled her nose.

“What’s in it that gives it that color?” Shiro asked.

“Gin, arugula, agave syrup, lime, cilantro, and a hint of green hot sauce,” Robin explained.

“Sounds horrific,” Shiro said, “but I am intrigued.”

“Why did you make this in a household where only you and Julia are old enough to drink?” Hazel asked with an eyebrow raised.

“Because,” Robin put the blender back in the fridge, “Rose has agreed to a friendly game of Conquian.”

“There is no such thing as a friendly game of Conquian,” Hazel retorted, “not in this family, there isn’t.”

“I was beginning to worry I wasn’t going to be able to play,” Robin continued, “Jules is working long hours tonight, but well...”

“I’ve been here for two minutes and you’re already whisking me off to play Conquian?” Hazel folded her arms.

“Does that mean you do not want to?” Robin raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, I’m going,” Hazel said, “I just wanted to make sure that was what you’re asking.”

“Great!” Robin beamed, “Shiro, you are also welcome to join us.”

“I want to go,” Leandro protested.

“Leandro, you’re too young,” Robin pointed out.

“I’m not gonna drink,” Leandro scoffed.

“I meant the gambling,” Robin tilted his head, “your mother wouldn’t care for that, I’m sure.”

“You don’t have an even set if you invite just Shiro,” Leandro shot back.

“Nor do I if you do come,” Robin said.

“I have never seen you play Conquian with an even set of people,” Hazel chimed in, “you start with a set of two and then the winner plays-”

“Whose side are you on?” Robin demanded.

“Well?” Leandro asked.

“Leandro,” Robin sighed.

“Come on. I never get to see Hazel,” Leandro begged. 

“Fine,” Robin relented, “fine. But you do not drink, you do not tell your mother.”

“Done!” Leandro flashed a grin of satisfaction.

“How does he manage to twist Papi’s arm like that?” Carmen asked, “I can’t get him to let me go to a show on a good day.”

“If that good day fell on a school night,” Hazel corrected.

“I graduated, Hazel,” Carmen rolled her eyes.

“So, what exactly is Conquian?” Shiro asked.

“It’s a Mexican rummy game,” Leandro explained.

“I love this part. I always win the demonstration game,” Robin smiled, already grabbing the deck of cards that sat on the windowsill.

* * *

It was Leandro’s first time at Rose and Claudia’s new place. Well, new to Leandro. They moved in the previous August. The walls were a pale purple and the furniture was something only Rose could pick out, but Claudia did most of the decoration besides that.

“Hey,” Rose greeted as she opened the door.

“Rosie,” Robin smiled. Rose pulled him into a hug, which took him aback.

“I’m sorry I got mad at you. It’s not unreasonable to want to know why your children are fighting. I shouldn’t have dragged all of you into it,” Rose squeezed as tight as she could. Rose wasn’t really one for physical contact.

“I’m sorry for meddling in your life, mi conejita,” Robin pat her on the back.

“Dad, is that what I think it is?” Rose asked.

“Envy,” Robin nodded.

“Yes!” Rose grabbed the blender from him, “I’ll set that in the freezer. The pizza guy is on his way, so we shouldn’t be standing here in the hallway.”

The group shuffled inside the apartment. 

“Hey!” Claudia greeted, “it’s so good to see you guys. Especially after last time ended so...poorly.”

“Good to see you too,” Robin said. 

“Our dining room table is a bit small,” Claudia gestured, “I’m sorry about that. We don’t usually have company, and if we do, we’re usually not sitting down.”

“Nonsense,” Robin sat down, “perfect for Conquian.”

“Who said you get to go first?” Rose asked.

“This is a grudge match,” Robin cracked his knuckles, “our last game ended in a tie.”

“That’s right, it did,” Rose handed Leandro a baseball cap, “well, fine. Leandro, please put in ten dollars and pass it around.

“I know what to do,” Leandro took the cap from her.

“How do you know?” Robin asked, “have you kids been gambling?”

“Since before Penny could walk,” Rose answered, “we used to bet our Halloween candy.”

“That’s how it was always magically Diego’s turn to clean the gutters,” Carmen explained, “he is really, really bad.”

“I see,” Robin took out his deck of cards, “now, let’s play some Conquian.”

“Papi, we don’t need to use your deck,” Rose picked up one of her own, “I already removed the eights, nines and tens.”

“But this is my lucky deck,” Robin protested.

“All the more incentive not to use it,” Rose grinned as she sat at the table across from her father.

“Fine, fine,” Robin relented, “but let it be known that I do not need my lucky deck of cards.”

“Whatever you say, Papi,” Rose turned to Claudia, “Cariña, would you mind doing the honors?”

“Of course,” Claudia grabbed the deck of cards and dealt them ten cards each.

“I’m still not a hundred percent certain how this game works,” Shiro squinted.

“Watching helps,” Carmen assured him.

“How do you have five already!” Robin was outraged. Nothing new with this game, but definitely a new record for how fast it took to get there.

“We’ve got to play this back at school,” Red mumbled.

“Use the card, Papi,” Rose requested.

“I do not want the card,” Robin shook his head.

“It’s the rules. If I tell you that you have to…” Rose trailed off.

“Devil child,” Robin narrowed his eyes.

“I love you too,” Rose smiled.

“How  _ does _ she do this so fast?” Claudia asked.

“Powers,” Penny answered, half-jokingly.

“She does this quick,” Leandro agreed, “but not quick enough.”

“Are you volunteering to go next?” Claudia asked.

“I’m absolutely volunteering,” Leandro leaned against the wall, “I have my honor to defend.”

“Ten! Only one more and your time is up,” Rose was about as smug as an archer hitting the bullseye on the first try.

“Your arrogance is going to get you in trouble very soon,” Robin melded another card with his set of three. He had eight. 

“Perhaps you’re right. After all, a player is only as good as the cards they’re dealt,” she paused, drawing a card from the center deck. It fit with one of her sets of three.

“You’re cheating!” Robin accused, “You have to be. There is no way you can get to eleven that quickly.”

“But I think I just did,” Rose pointed out, starting to shuffle the cards again.

“If you think this is over, I want you to know that it is far from it,” Robin stood.

“Right. Would you make yourself useful, Papi, and get me a drink?” Rose batted her eyelashes. Robin scoffed but abided by her. She already slammed the drink by the time Leandro was trying to sit down.

“I’m next,” Leandro said.

“Nope,” Rose folded her hands, “winner gets to choose her next opponent.”

“You’re just prolonging your victory,” Leandro stood back up.

“I always do. Now…” Rose began sizing up the remainder of people in the living room until she landed on Shiro, “you.”

“Me?” Shiro asked.

“Show me what you’ve got,” Rose drummed her fingers on the table. Shiro sheepishly walked over.

“Did I miss something?” Hunk asked.

“The only person who can beat Rose-” Carmen began explaining.

“So far,” Robin corrected.

“Right. So far,” Carmen rolled her eyes, “the only person who can beat Rose  _ so far  _ is Leandro.”

“Makes sense why she’s afraid to play him,” Katie nodded.

“I am afraid of no such thing!” Rose protested as she placed a sequence of three cards face up on the table. Shiro was winning. He was better at this than he thought.

“At this rate, it will be over before the pizza even arrives,” Claudia shook her head.

But that was not true. Pizza arrived by the time Rose had beaten Shiro and was on to playing Hazel.

“Little lady, you are in way over your head,” Hazel placed a hand on her hip. Hazel already had six cards melded only a couple turns in. 

“What do you know about Conquian?” Rose asked.

“Tour bus don’t have cable. It don’t have wifi. Your father taught me how to play when you were still in grade school,” Hazel explained as she drew a card.

“Well, I learned from my mother,” Rose didn’t even look up at Hazel, “have you ever seen the two of them play a game?”

“No,” Hazel took her turn.

“Well, you’re going to have to trust me when I say that my father is very good. But I learned from the best,” Rose grinned as she drew another card, “I win.”

“Good game,” Hazel shook her hand.

“How about...Red?” Rose took another sip from her drink. Red stepped forward.

And so it went. Rose went around the room, drinking cocktails and trash talking as she took each individual person out one by one. Red, then Claudia. Penny, then Hunk. Katie, then Carmen and Allura. 

The pizza had been eaten and between the five legal drinkers, the blender had been emptied, and there was only one person left for Rose to beat. She sighed, let her fiancee shuffle the cards, and watched as Leandro sat down.

“Are you ready to be dethroned?” Leandro asked as Claudia dealt the cards.

“I’m not losing to you,” Rose snorted.

“Not again, you mean?” Leandro asked with his eyebrow raised.

“Let’s just play,” Rose narrowed her eyes. Leandro took a look at his cards. A sequence of three in diamonds immediately stood out to him. Rose frowned and presented four sixes. Rose was already ahead. 

“Leandro has been better at Conquian than Rosie since we were ten,” Carmen explained.

“That’s why Rose always wants to play it. She’s the best at blackjack, poker, gin. But Leandro can always beat her at Conquian and it drives. Her. nuts,” Allura continued.

“I force you,” Rose said. Leandro reluctantly melded the ace of diamonds with his other cards, breaking up a set of three aces he was about to lay on the table.

“That’s cute. She thinks she’s winning,” Leandro drew another card and melded three jacks. He had seven. Rose still only had four. She narrowed her eyes.

“How many games have you played away at school, hm?” Rose asked, rearranging her cards in her hand to see if she was missing something, “I play every week.”

“Granted, I have fallen out of practice,” Leandro confessed, “it will make my victory all the sweeter.”

“We’ll see,” Rose drew a card and laid out a set of three. The game was 6-7. Leandro drew another card. He discarded it, and Rose took it instead, making another set of three. 9-7.

“I hope he wins,” Hazel said.

“Why would you say that?” Carmen shot a glare her way, “Hazel, you know that’s bad luck.”

“You guys don’t care about losing?” Hunk asked.

“Ten bucks,” Allura shrugged, “nothing to cry about.”

“I’m a college student,” Hunk furrowed his brow, “ten bucks is like a week’s groceries.”

“Don’t say that,” Claudia clutched her chest, “too real.”

“No, this is about beating Rose now,” Hazel explained, “it’s not enough to win for her. She needs to really rub it in.”

They paused and watched Leandro lay out a set of four. 9-10. Leandro adjusted the purple frames of his glasses with a sly smirk.

“I don’t think I could picture Leandro as anything other than a sore winner,” Red folded her arms.

“Oh, he is. You do not want to lose to Leandro. Ever. But Rose is worse,” Penny explained.

“Infinitely worse,” Allura agreed.

“Cielito, it’s not too late to forfeit,” Rose said as she added another card to her set of hearts, making the game tied.

“Rivera Cruz’s do not forfeit,” Leandro said. Their game started to low. Four turns went by with nobody getting a card they could use. Then five. They were near the end of the deck, and dangerously close to having to split the winnings.

Then, like a beam of sunlight out of darkness, Leandro drew the final jack, winning the game. Everyone in the apartment, Claudia included, cheered.

“Why can’t I beat you at this game?” Rose demanded.

“Because I’m the best!” Leandro grinned.

“Your winnings, sir,” Claudia handed him the baseball cap.

“A hundred twenty dollars,” Leandro cackled, “mine. All mine!”

“You’re not gonna start rolling around in it like Scrooge McDuck, are you?” Rose raised an eyebrow.

“Holy shit,” Penny stared at the clock on the microwave.

“What?” Leandro asked.

“Language!” Robin scolded.

“It’s twelve twenty,” Penny said, “my curfew, I will remind you, is eleven.”

“I’ll tell your mother it was my fault,” Robin volunteered, “but we do have to go. Now.”

“See you tomorrow,” Rose waved them off. 

“What’s tomorrow?” Leandro asked.

“You’ll see,” Robin groaned, “Rosie’s idea.”

“Papi, we have to go!” Penny whined.

“Right. Hasta mañana, my love,” Robin kissed his eldest on the cheek, and then promptly proceeded to book it out of the door.

* * *

“So,” Hunk asked as he sat down on the bed, “do you know what you’re gonna do with your winnings?”

“Yeah,” Leandro joked, “I’ve got a hot date.”

“Oh?” Hunk’s shoulders slumped.

“It was a joke, Hunk,” Leandro rolled his eyes, unlocking the drawer to his nightstand and placing the money neatly inside.

“Oh!” Hunk laughed far too awkwardly for it not to register as weird. But Leandro didn’t notice.

“I actually thought that…” Leandro trailed off.

“What?” Hunk asked.

“It’s nothing,” Leandro shrugged.

“Come on. You know how I am,” Hunk pointed out.

“I really haven’t decided yet.” Leandro lied.

“Okay?” Hunk raised an eyebrow, but he didn’t press.

“I’m gonna go take a shower,” Leandro stood up.

“Sounds good,” Hunk was really, really trying not to come across as...whatever this was. Leandro walked towards the bathroom. Hunk quickly resolved to pacing.

And that’s when he saw it, out of the corner of his eye. His name. It was just for a second, but he saw it. He walked towards what seemed to be the source. Leandro’s nightstand.

There it was. Written on a piece of paper in the drawer. Hunk's name. Over and over again. It looked like a letter.


	13. Of Haircuts and Heresay

Hunk knew that he shouldn’t. When he was in high school, he did this sort of stuff all the time. Eventually, he matured past it. Right now, he was struggling to remember why as he deliberately avoided eye contact with the letter. It was a letter to Hunk. Why shouldn’t he be able to read it? That wasn’t how it worked. Hunk knew that wasn’t how it worked.

“What the hell are you doing?” asked Carmen. Hunk whipped around.

“Nothing,” Hunk answered as nonchalantly as he could manage, which was not hardly. Carmen walked over towards the nightstand. She grimaced when she set eyes on what had Hunk so uneasy. She quickly slammed the drawer.

“How much did you read?” she demanded.

“Not much,” Hunk answered. 

“Hunk…” she pressed.

“Okay,” Hunk sighed, “I saw my name.”

“That’s all?” she asked.

“A couple words might have stuck out,” Hunk admitted.

“Such as?” Carmen raised an eyebrow.

“Such as…” Hunk was desperate to find anything to look at that wasn’t Carmen’s face, “feelings.”

“Feelings,” Carmen repeated, “this is not good.”

“Feelings and uh, embarrassed, confession,” Hunk shrugged, “I don’t know what he could have been talking about. But I saw my name. I saw it like a lot. And I was curious.”

“You don’t have to do that. Maybe with Leandro but not with me,” Carmen said.

“Huh?”

“Being coy about it. I’m not an idiot and you’re not either. I know you have it figured out,” Carmen said, “but look. This isn’t how he wanted to tell you and I’m sure this isn’t how you wanted to find out. Just try to let him down easy. For someone who brags as much as he does, he’s pretty shy when it comes to crushes.”

“Leandro has a crush?” Hunk paused. Carmen merely blinked at him in surprise. Oh. _Oh_. Oh shit.

“Hunk,” she said.

“It’s me, isn’t it?” Hunk asked.

“Huh?” Carmen squeaked.

“Carmen,” Hunk locked eyes with her.

“I had an out,” Carmen facepalmed, “I had an out! You were completely oblivious!”

“Hey!”

“I could have said anything and you would have been like sure, Carm, sounds legit, Carm,” Carmen began pacing around the room, “but me and my big mouth. And Oh. My. God.”

“What?” Hunk asked.

“We’ve got to get you out of here,” she grabbed his wrist and began trying to drag him.

“What are you doing?” Hunk asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Leandro is going to be out of the shower in twenty minutes.”

“Twenty minutes? He’s already been in there for like ten. Jesus christ. Maniac.”

“I would have said ten but he stares at the wall contemplating life for a minimum of eight minutes in there and that’s when he’s not having major family issues. So,” Carmen waved a hand, “we definitely do need to get out of here.”

“Why, exactly?” Hunk asked.

“You’re fucking going to freak out is why,” Carmen explained.

“Do I look like I’m freaking out?” Hunk asked.

“First of all, I didn’t say you are. You are going to. It is definitely going to be worse when you see him. Anyway, your voice is ridiculously high pitched at the moment,” Carmen pointed out, “and you look like you’ve seen a fucking ghost. Any other questions?”

“Uh.”

“Good. Let’s get out of here.”

“Where is it, exactly, that we’re going?” Hunk asked.

“Outside. Indefinitely.”

“It’s raining,” Hunk pointed out.

“Your point?” Carmen requested. At last, Hunk released himself to her dragging him out of the room and downstairs.

“I’m grabbing Red, too,” Hunk whispered.

“Why?” Carmen asked.

“She just makes me feel calm,” Hunk shrugged, “I need that right now.”

“Thanks so much,” Carmen narrowed her eyes. Hunk knocked on Red’s door as lightly as he could manage. Red answered at frightening speeds. Hunk gestured for her to come with them. 

Red, not wanting to wake anybody, silently nodded, and then proceeded to trip over a pencil box and crash into the wall.

“Are you okay?” Hunk whisper-screamed. 

“My fault for keeping a messy room,” Red stood back up and followed them out the back door.

“The important thing not to do is panic,” Carmen said, returning to full volume.

“Great,” Hunk sighed, “good. Not panicking. Got it.”

“Anyone want to tell me why we’re standing outside in the rain in the middle of the night not panicking?” Red folded her arms.

“How much does she know?” Carmen asked.

“Leandro likes me back,” Hunk said.

“Oh?” Red was trying to sound surprised. She was failing.

“You knew, didn’t you?” Hunk asked.

“Yeah,” Red sighed, “pretty much.”

“How long?” Hunk kept a calm voice. He was trying not to let his pulse skyrocket.

“Not long,” Red promised, “it might have been yesterday? Or the day before? This has been a long, very weird vacation.”

“That doesn’t really matter right now,” Carmen said, “we need to figure out where to go.”

“Where to go?” Hunk asked, “you want us to just leave?”

“I’ll be the first to remind you that none of us have cars here,” Red pointed out, “you came in an RV, we came in Leandro’s car.”

“I have a motorcycle in the RV,” Carmen said, “but...it only sits two people.”

“So that doesn’t really help,” Red said.

“Thanks for saying so,” Carmen lowered her voice, “I had no idea.”

“We could go to Allura’s,” Red suggested.

“Why would we go to Allura’s?” Hunk asked.

“It’s not far, not even in the rain and on foot. Besides, she already knows,” Red explained.

“Okay, how many people know about Leandro’s feelings?” Hunk asked.

“Me, Allura, Carmen, Pidge, Sh-”

“I’m going to stop you there,” Carmen interjected.

“Yeah, that is definitely not helping,” Hunk agreed, “so, Allura’s?”

“Isn’t Leandro gonna notice we aren’t there, though?” Red pointed out.

“That is something to take into consideration,” Carmen pulled out her phone, “I’ll text him to tell him there was an emergency.”  
“If we say there’s an emergency, he’ll come over,” Red pointed out.

“That is also true,” Carmen nodded, “okay. There was gum in my hair the other day except there wasn’t really but Leandro thinks that there was, right?”

“I did not follow one single word of that,” Hunk said.

“I’ll just tell Cielito I needed a haircut badly,” Carmen shrugged.

“Allura can cut hair?” Red asked.

“A little. Tia Lin is a hairdresser, and she taught me and Allura the basics when we worked a summer job at her salon,” Carmen explained, “okay, let’s go. There isn’t time for this.”

And off they went.

* * *

“I got your text. You came over because you need me to cut your hair?” Allura asked when she answered the door.

“Not exactly,” Carmen said.

“Then why?” Allura invited them in. When she saw Red nearly plant a boot on her carpet, she made a noise.

“Hunk likes Leandro,” Carmen explained.

“And he should,” Allura seemed entirely unfazed.

“Leandro wrote a confession letter to Hunk the other night,” Carmen continued, “and Hunk saw it.”

“You read Leandro’s private letter?” Allura was tempted to punch Hunk in the arm.

“It was an accident! He left the drawer open and I just saw my name and then Carmen came in and blurted the whole thing out!” Hunk seemed to be unaware that he was screaming.

“You what?” Allura redirected her indignation towards Carmen.

“It was a mistake!” Carmen defended, “I thought someone sees a letter with their name in it and words like confession and feelings, he would have figured it out.”

“You’re clearly underestimating how stupid I am!” Hunk shrieked.

“You are _not_ stupid,” Red protested.

“Definitely oblivious! I was ready to just go about my night, but noooo,” Hunk sat down on Allura’s couch, “this is a total nightmare.”

“Why is he freaking out that his crush likes him?” Allura asked.

“I am not freaking out because he likes me. I am freaking out because my best friend who I’m pretty sure I’m in love with-”

“What did you just say?” Allura was on the verge of screaming herself.

“Callete, Princesa!” A voice shouted through the vents, “I work at seis de la mañana! And you are screaming!” 

“Perdón, Señorita Alberta!” Allura shouted back.

“Forgive and forget!” she answered. And then the vent shut.

“Nice lady,” Allura shut the front door and locked it, “her girlfriend makes the best sopapillas I’ve had in my entire life.”

“Don’t tell Ma that,” Carmen warned.

“Anyway. You fucking what?” Allura turned her attention back towards Hunk.”

“I love him,” Hunk said slowly, “I dunno. Platonic and romantic feelings get mixed up in my head usually and this is like...well past that point, I guess? They say when you are you know. But I’ve never been in love before! I don’t know. I used to have butterflies, but those are gone. I’m just comfortable with him, you know? I’d do anything for him.”

“Aw,” Carmen said.

“She’s right,” Allura agreed, “so, why are you not at home, talking to him about this?”

“Because,” Hunk hung his head low, “because he didn’t give me the letter.”

“So?” Allura asked.

“So, there must have been some reason that he didn’t tell me,” Hunk pointed out, “and it’s probably a good one.”

“The reason he didn’t is because he’s shy,” Carmen tried to insist.

“Or maybe him leaving his nightstand open was his way of telling you. He’s not much for confrontation,” Allura suggested.

“But what if he’s not ready,” Hunk furrowed his brow, “or maybe he was, but family stuff keeps happening. The timing of this is all wrong.”

“Timing,” Carmen scoffed, “timing is a lie people tell themselves to procrastinate happiness.”

“You’ve got any other fortune cookie proverbs, Carm?” Allura asked.

“That’s what my grandmother says,” Carmen shrugged.

“I think,” Red interjected, “waiting to tell him until things aren’t so crazy is very noble of you.”

“Don’t listen to her,” Carmen said, “she’s crazy. She’s nuts.”

“She’s right,” Allura sighed, “as much as I hate to admit it, she’s right.”

“She is?” Carmen asked.

“I am?” Red was taken aback. 

“Yeah. I mean, there’s always drama in this family. Always. But things are kind of in an especially delicate place,” Allura pointed out, “maybe waiting until he’s ready to come to you with it is the best thing you can do for him right now.”

“I hate it when you make sense,” Carmen spoke through gritted teeth. 

“Okay,” Hunk nodded, “okay.”

“And believe me, I will be on his ass about this,” Allura assured him, “he is definitely going to explode if he keeps this a secret for much longer. I’ve never seen him this into anybody.”

“Really?” Warmth met Hunk’s cheeks.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have said that,” Allura furrowed her brow.

“No, it’s good that you did,” Hunk managed, “thanks for helping me get this figured out.”

“Yeah,” Red smiled at him, “no worries.”

“I know I don’t know any of you all that well, but I don’t...well, Katie’s great, but she’s, you know, a kid. And as for Shiro...well, I usually don't get along so great with other guys,” Hunk explained.

“I can’t picture you not getting along with a rabid raccoon,” Carmen said.

“I swear,” Hunk said, “My dad is the exception I guess, but I only see him on special occasions. I have two sisters and I can’t stand either of their husbands. I don’t even know why. At family holidays I just sit with my moms and chainsmoking aunts and listen to them complain about their exes.”

“I have never experienced one word of that. Why do I feel like I know exactly that feeling?” Red asked.

“What do I have to do to get in on that?” Carmen asked.

“Anyway,” Hunk sighed, “yeah. Waiting is a good plan. Yes.”

“Cool. Now that that’s sorted out,” Carmen turned towards Allura, “can you give me a haircut?”

“Can I what?” Allura asked.

“It was our excuse. I cut a wad of gum out of my hair and you found out and demanded I come over for a haircut,” Carmen explained.

“That does sound like me,” Allura said, “okay. Just a haircut. I’m not giving you highlights again.”

“Of course not,” Carmen rolled her eyes, “the last time you tried, it was a complete disaster.”

“Besides,” Allura opened the linen closet to retrieve her supplies, “your hair looks so much prettier black.”

“Remember when I tried to straighten it?” Carmen asked.

“That was a goddamn tragedy,” Allura sighed, “they’re in here somewhere, I know they are.”

“Let me help,” Carmen practically shoved Allura out of the way.

“Jesus,” Allura said.

“Sorry,” Carmen said, “maybe next time you could cut Red’s hair.”

“I don’t get haircuts,” Red took a step back, “I like it like this.”

“You need glasses,” Carmen snorted.

“That is also true,” Red said.

“Come on. Mullets are very in right now,” nobody could tell if Allura was being sarcastic or not.

“I don’t care about what’s _in_ ,” Red crossed her arms, “if I styled my hair the way other girls do...it would feel like I was pretending to be something I’m not. Not that I’m different from other girls, but...it’s hard to explain.”

“I get it,” Hunk said, “it’s like a signifier. It feels like you.”

“Yeah,” Red relaxed a bit, “yeah.”

“Well, now I feel like an asshole for making fun,” Carmen said.

“You’re allowed to make fun,” Red assured her, “we’re friends.”

“We...yeah?” Carmen asked.

“I mean. I think so?” Red shrugged, “I’m not that great at this sort of thing. And I’ve only known you a few days. But, you know, I like you. You’re cool.”

“Thanks,” Carmen smiled, “you’re pretty cool, too.”

* * *

They all passed out. When they woke up, Allura’s alarm was blaring from the next room.

“Shit!” Allura jolted awake, “What time is it?” 

“It’s,” Red yawned and pulled out her phone, “noon.”

“I feel like ass, you guys,” Carmen groaned.

“Same here,” Hunk rubbed his temples.

“I should have opened up the shop hours ago!” Allura stood and tied her hair back, “I’m gonna go get changed. Oh, man, I’m never gonna hear the end of this!” 

They all stood up and began stretching. They had crashed on the floor shortly after Allura had finished cutting Carmen’s hair. Leandro was calling Red. She answered.

“Yo, where have you guys been?” he asked.

“Haircut,” Red answered.

“Ten hours!” Leandro shouted.

“It was a long haircut?” Red shrugged, “No, we crashed.”

“And slept till noon?” Leandro asked.

“We...yes,” Red confirmed.

“Well...come back over. We miss you!” Leandro shouted, “I want to kick it!” 

“We’re on our way,” Red couldn’t help smiling just a little. 

“Good. We’re making Buñuelos and I will kill myself if you don’t eat one while it’s hot.” Leandro shouted something along the lines of they’ll be here soon at his mother. Red heard a loud cheering noise.

“See you,” Red laughed. She hung up.

* * *

“I am in such a good mood,” Leandro messed with Red’s hair, “just woke up today loving life.”

“That’s being home, Cielito,” Julia grinned, “it takes a few days, but you’re always in a good mood when you come home from out of town.”

“You’re right,” Leandro kissed his mother on the forehead, “I love being home.”

“Maybe you’d consider transferring to school here, hm?” Julia suggested.

“Mami, we’ve been over this,” Leandro rolled his eyes, “I think I would miss my friends too much.”

“Your friends should come with you!” Robin said.

“That’s not how it works and you know it, Dad,” Leandro rolled his eyes, “I’m moving back after college.”

“I’m moving back to my hometown, too,” Hunk said, “but that’s only an hour away from here.”

“Oh?” Julia asked.

“I think I’m stuck where I am,” Shiro said, “but I spend my summers back home in Japan.”

“I could go to school here,” Katie chimed in, “I mean, I do love it here. A lot. If I could find a good medical program.”

“That would be so marvelous!” Julia beamed.

“It would rule,” Penny smiled. Katie looked down to avoid her blush being seen.

“Have you decided if you want to do college, Penelope?” Leandro asked.

“Nah. Trade school,” Penny answered.

“Trade school!” Robin repeated approvingly.

“As much as this conversation about the futures of my children is absolutely tickling me, there are other matters to get to,” Julia locked eyes with Robin.

“Other matters?” Robin mumbled, “Oh. Right.”

“Everybody outside,” Julia commanded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I added this to the first chapter, but I figured I'd write this here, too:  
> Just a quick note: I, the author, am a mixed-race Chicana. I have tried my best to be respectful of Cuban-American culture and people, but if anything in this work is inaccurate or disrespectful, please let me know and I will change it and apologize.  
> I have noticed a pattern in a lot of fics about Latino characters, where their ethnic traits are washed away to the point where it's like "this is my oc, Bob" or the ethnic traits that are present are entirely rooted in stereotypes or ignorance. I am attempting to create a narrative where the characters in it feel like real people. Fleshed out. Proud of their roots but not defined by them. This fic is pure indulgence for me, a love letter to the types of stories that I wanted to see as a little girl and never got.  
> I hope you all enjoy reading this as much as I have writing it!


	14. Ninety-Nine Water Balloons

“Is this where we get to find out what was with all the coy-ness yesterday?” Leandro asked.

“Outside!” Robin commanded, shuffling his son out the back door.

“Whatever,” Leandro shrugged. Hazel, Rose, Allura, and Claudia all stood in the front yard, grinning. One would think this was some kind of lesbian meeting being held here. 

“Morning,” Rose said unceremoniously as possible, “I’m sure you’re all aware that it is ninety-eight degrees out today.”

The group groaned in acknowledgment. 

“It was forecasted as the hottest day of April, and so we thought we could come up with some ways to keep entertained since, you know, the beach is too crowded and we can’t very well lay on the floor wilting,” Rose continued.

“That’s quitter’s talk,” Leandro said.

“Alright, hurry it along before everything melts,” Claudia jabbed at her fiancee with her elbow. 

“Right,” Rose cleared her throat and walked over to the side of the house. The group heard a dramatic grunt as she wheeled out a shave ice machine.

“Yes!” Leandro cheered.

“We’ve got blue raspberry, green apple, lemon, cherry,” Rose listed off flavors, “but that’s not all.”

She pulled out a little plastic nozzle and the most dramatically enormous bag of balloons.

“Oh my god,” Leandro said, “oh my god!”

“Water balloon fight?” Penny asked.

“Mhm,” Rose answered.

“And?” Allura gestured towards her.

“Right,” Rose cleared her throat and began setting water guns on the table.

“Oh, you’re shitting me,” Carmen said, “we haven’t had a water fight in like a million years.”

“It’s been two,” Rose corrected, “but that is still entirely too long to go without chasing someone with a water balloon.”

“I think I read that on a fortune cookie once,” Allura said.

“Okay, nobody move. I’m putting phones inside,” Julia lifted a basket. Everyone tossed their phones in.

“The water guns are already full,” Rose explained, “I do have to fill the water balloons before we start, though.”

“Boo!” Leandro shouted, “we want the water guns now!” 

Without hesitation, Rose took her water gun and shot a stream towards Leandro’s face. Leandro flinched away, and, taking her point, glared at her for the amount of time it took her to fill all of the water balloons and put them in the big bucket.

They began selecting their water guns while they waited. Everyone was allowed one of the big ones or two of the smaller ones. By the time everyone was done fighting over water guns, Rose was finished filling the water balloons.

“Everybody ready?” Rose asked, standing up. Everyone nodded in agreement. Rose, being an uncharacteristically good sport, grabbed the gun that nobody wanted.

“Leandro, if I see one water balloon hit someone’s face, you’re getting sent inside,” Julia said.

“Come on, Ma,” Leandro protested, “Red is, like, two inches tall. I’m not working with a lot of room here.”

“Hey!” Read raised one of her guns.

“Red, my dear, Rose didn’t say go yet,” Julia pointed out.

Red only grumbled something in response.

“Alright…” Rose paused, “Go!”

And everyone was off. Everyone got to see, first hand, how hereditary Leandro’s competitive spirit was. Almost to a detrimental degree.

Finally, when she thought she couldn’t take Leandro’s smug and disturbingly unfunny puns, Red ducked away from the madness over on the side of the house. Allura was there, too.

“Hey,” Red greeted.

“Hey. What are you doing back here?” Allura asked.

“I needed a little break,” Red answered, “and they were not going to have it.”

“They probably won’t even notice you’re gone until you’re already back,” Allura assured her, “snow cone?”

“Sure,” Red leaned against the wall.

“Flavor?” 

“Surprise me,” Red shrugged, “so, you have any plans for the summer?”

“I never have plans, ever,” Allura opened the cooler, “why?”

“You know, I’m spending the summer out here, too,” Red explained.

“Oh, right. Yeah, I heard.”

“And...you know,” Red hesitated. She had no idea why this was so hard. She’d been through worse than  _ this. _

“I really don’t,” Allura raised an eyebrow.

“Just that...Leandro’s gonna get a job over the summer,” Red continued.

“Not something I can picture Leandro doing,” Allura handed Red a cherry snow cone.

“And you know...when he’s not around. I was wondering if…”

“If I wanted to hang out sometime?” Allura finished.

“Yes,” Red was tempted to slam her face into the snow cone from sheer embarrassment.

“Is that not what we’re doing right now?” Allura asked.

“Well...yeah,” Red agreed, “I just meant...we’ve only ever hung out once.”

“I ask again.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Yes,” Allura said, “yes I suppose that I do.”

“Well…” Red vaguely gestured. What was wrong with her.

“That would be cool,” Allura smiled, “here, I can give you my...well, my phone is inside, isn’t it?”

“Otherwise you’re fucked,” Red blinked. Allura laughed.

“But after. Later, I mean. I’ll give you my number. Then we can text whenever,” Allura said.

“Cool,” a water balloon hit Red from behind. She screamed.

“What are you doing back here?” Leandro asked, “There’s a water balloon fight going on.”

“Snowcone break,” Red answered.

“Where are your priorities?” Leandro asked, “Do you think that Superman ever took a so-called snow cone break in the middle of Lex Luthor attacking the city?”

“You can keep saying this nerd shit at me and I’ll keep pretending not to hear it for the sake of your dignity,” Red replied.

“You’ve shown you have some major pop culture blind spots. But come on. Superman? Babies know Superman. When you’re born, people say welcome to the world. This is superman-”

“I know, Leandro,” Red interrupted, “I was being a dick.”

“You’re very good at that,” Leandro narrowed his eyes, “anyway, I need your help.”

“But Leandro,” Red protested, “the snow cone.”

“You may finish your snow cone,” he allowed.

“Thank you, my liege,” Red rolled her eyes.

“But when you’re done-”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m going down,” Red interrupted.

“Exactly,” Leandro said, backing away around the corner.

“Weirdo,” Red raised an eyebrow.

“That’s why we love him,” Allura lifted her cone, “a toast to Leandro and his strange, strange antics.”

“Sure,” Red hit her snow cone against Allura’s, causing ice to fly everywhere.

There was dramatic screaming from around the corner.

“What are you willing to bet that’s Leandro?” Allura asked.

“All the money in my bank account. Which isn’t a lot, but still,” Red answered.

“We’d better get back,” Allura said, “but the snow cones…”

“We can race,” Red suggested.

“It’s a suicide mission. We’ll both get headaches. I’m in.”

They finished their drinks as quickly as possible, finished in a tie, and just as quickly dropped their empty cones to pinch the bridges of their noses.

“That was a bad idea. Why did I let you talk me into that?” Allura groaned.

“You volunteered,” Red pointed out.

“Well anyway,” Allura grabbed Red’s wrist with one hand, the long-abandoned water guns with the other, and they headed back to their water fight.

* * *

Robin, having been hit with the most water balloons, was tasked with cleaning up. Julia and Leandro were in the kitchen making dinner. Julia was humming, and Leandro kept noticing her eyes on him while he roasted the poblanos. He turned around.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“What do you mean?” Julia tried to hide her smile.

“Mami, I haven’t seen you this wistful since that cashier thought you were twenty-eight,” Leandro raised an eyebrow.

“That was an excellent day,” Julia said.

“Well…” Leandro gestured.

“A mother can’t look happy while cooking food with her son?” Julia asked.

“I’ve cooked plenty since I’ve been here,” Leandro pointed out, “you’ve never looked so giddy.”

“Tamales are my favorite,” Julia shrugged.

“They are not! Your favorite is ropa vieja!” Leandro protested, “And if Papi ever caught you calling a non-Cuban dish your favorite, he would go into cardiac arrest.”

“You’re being ridiculous, and you’re going to burn your poblanos, Leandro Carlos Rivera-Cruz, I raised you to know when to turn a pepper!”

“What? You’re supposed to blacken them!” Leandro pointed out.

“Blacken is one thing. To set them on fire is another. Turn the goddamn peppers,” Julia said. Leandro did as he was told.

“But you are,” Leandro said.

“I’m what?” Julia asked.

“You’re happy.”

“Yes,” she said, “yes I am.”

“And you’re going to tell me why,” he pointed with his tongs, “or I’ll tell my friends the secret ingredient to your chili paste.”

“You would not dare,” Julia narrowed her eyes.

“I think secret ingredients are stupid anyway. They’re the reason you have to ask about food allergies the second guests enter our home.”

“A good chef always asks,” Julia retorted.

“Even still. Do not test me,” Leandro said.

“Ave Maria, you’re really willing to betray me to find out why I’m smiling?” 

“When you put it like that, it sounds ridiculous,” Leandro said.

“You know you only get to threaten that once,” Julia warned, “Diego tried twice. I made him clean out the tour bus fridge.”

“I remember,” Leandro nodded. Red walked through the door, and Julia tensed.

“Sorry, I just,” Red paused, “holy shit. It smells fucking delicious in here.”

“Thank you, love,” Julia smiled.

“Red, we’re sort of in the middle of something,” Leandro said.

“Right. Did not mean to interrupt, I just wanted to grab another soda,” Red pointed at the fridge.

“You’re welcome to it,” Leandro gestured, “mi casa…”

“Thanks,” Red opened the fridge, squinted, and closed it again, “you’re out.”

“More in the cooler in the garage,” Julia said.

“Thanks,” Red repeated. She could sense something was going on. Leandro knew. But she just walked towards the garage and shut the door.

“Anyway,” Leandro said, “this is important. I wouldn’t secret ingredient you if it wasn’t.”

“Okay,” Julia held up a hand, “if you’re sure.”

“I’m sure. You’re being so secretive,” Leandro grinned, “I want to know what exactly about.”

“Okay,” Julia smiled again, “she likes you.”

“What?” Leandro asked.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Leandro raised an eyebrow.

“It’s time you told her,” Julia continued.

“I am so lost. You want to help me comprehend exactly what’s going on?” Leandro asked.

“Red,” Julia answered.

“Red?” Leandro echoed, “No, no, no. You have entirely the wrong idea.”

“I think it’s you who has the wrong idea, keeping everything so secretive.”

“Not this again. Mami, please,” Leandro begged.

“You are the one who wanted to know so very badly,” Julia pointed out.

“Tumba eso,” Leandro clenched and unclenched his jaw, “we need to get back to cooking dinner before my friends turn into ravenous beasts.”

“That we do,” Julia nodded, “foil your peppers.”

“Just because I know a girl does not mean I’m in love with her,” Leandro said.

“When did I say in love?” Julia’s interest was piqued, “Why? Are you?”

“No!” Leandro burned his thumb on the foil, “Five minutes, right?”

“Sí,” Julia paused, “Leandro, I just want you to be happy.”

“I’m plenty happy,” Leandro said.

“She’s a lovely girl, I think you should take her out.”

“I made a mistake. Can I retract my threat and save it for later?”

“You absolutely may not. Leandro-”

“There’s nothing going on between Red and me.”

“I’m a matchmaker. This is what we do,” Julia said.

“You don’t matchmake. You meddle. You’re invasive and you make everyone uncomfortable,” Leandro didn’t even hear the door open.

“Oh, Cielito. You know you need a push for these things. You needed a push to talk to Allura when you were little, you needed a push to invite Red along, and you need a push for this, too.”

“He what?” Red asked. Leandro turned on his heel.

“Red,” was all he could manage.

“You invited me because she made you?” Red asked.

“Red, no. I mean, yes...but-” 

He didn’t even finish talking before she walked out of the kitchen. He faced his mother.

“Do you see? You think you’re helping, but all you do is make things worse! It’s not okay to play cupid, to decide that people belong together.”

“Leandro-”

“No, Mami. You let me finish. You did it to Rose and Allura before they came out. It made them so uncomfortable. Allura cried about it, once. And then when we don’t accept your help, you bully us for not having significant others. Well, you haven’t had one since I was ten, so don’t go around acting like some kind of fucking expert on love.”

“Leandro, that is enough,” Julia’s voice shook.

“You’re right,” Leandro took off his apron, “it is. Finish dinner by yourself. I’m going to find Red.”

Leandro didn’t have to go far. Red left out the front door. She was sitting in the driveway, her knees crunched to her chest.

“Hey,” Red muttered.

“Hey,” Leandro sat down next to her, “listen, I’m sorry about that.”

“You don’t have to apologize,” Red sighed, “you’ve done nothing wrong. You’ve been entirely hospitable. I just thought…nevermind. When we get back to school, we can go back to normal. You don’t have to pretend to like me.”

“I don’t want to go back to normal,” Leandro stood back up, “this week has been some of the most fun I’ve had in my life. And you’re a big part of the reason why.”

“It’s okay, you don’t have to-”

“No. I do,” Leandro interrupted, “you’re my friend. I love you, Red.”

“You don’t.”

“I do,” Leandro protested.

“You don’t even know me.”

“I do. Not as well as I should, but I do.”

“Please. We’ve lived together all year and we had, what, five real conversations before this trip?” Red scoffed.

“I know that you can’t sleep without music.”

“What?” Red looked up.

“I know that you wrinkle your nose when you concentrate,” Leandro continued, “and you can’t sing with your eyes open.”

“So what?”

“I know that when you’re really upset, the only thing that can cheer you up is spicy mango popsicles from that place on campus. I know that your favorite medium to work with is charcoal and your dad taught you how to use it.”

Red didn’t respond. She just kept looking at him.

“I know you try not to laugh because when you do, you snort. And you think it’s gross even though it’s. Quite honestly, adorable. I know that Shiro has been your best friend for seven years and there’s rarely anything you won’t talk to him about,” Leandro paused, “I know you keep a photo of your parents under your mattress and you look at it whenever you’re especially upset.”

“Leandro,” she stood.

“I know you secretly have a stuffed animal, this ratty little sock monkey Shiro made you. I know you let the shower run a little longer when you need to cry.”

“Leandro,” she tilted her head.

“Yes?” Leandro asked.

But she didn’t say anything. She just hugged him. He hugged her back.

“I love you, so much,” he said.

“I love you too,” she spoke so quietly Leandro almost couldn’t hear her.

“And I really do want you here for the summer. If you still want to go, I mean,” Leandro said. She pulled away.

“I’ve got nothing better going on,” Red shrugged with a smile. Leandro lightly punched her in the arm.

“Mom was right. I did just need to get to know you. I’m glad I did. Well, still am, I guess,” Leandro’s smile faded, “Oh, god. My mom.”

“What?” Red raised an eyebrow.

“I sort of screamed at her. I’ve gotta go fix things. Good talk, yeah?”

“Yes, coach,” Red agreed.

* * *

He found her not in the kitchen, but in her room in the basement. She had been crying. He could tell she had been crying.

“Mami,” he greeted.

“Mi Cielito!” she was startled. She rubbed her eyes clean of tears, “I didn’t...sorry about the mess.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he said, “why aren’t you upstairs?”

“I don’t cook when I’m upset,” she answered, “I told everyone that dinner would be a little longer.”

“Oh,” Leandro looked down, “look, Mami, I didn’t mean to-”

“I had no idea,” she mumbled.

“What?”

“I had no idea that my meddling was such a source of negative emotion,” she continued, “I thought it was fun.”

“Fun?” Leandro asked.

“I thought...my parents did that to me-”

“And you hated it!” Leandro pointed out.

“I did,” she nodded, “but I don’t know, something about it. I guess I thought I was doing something for the greater good. What I was doing was behaving entirely inappropriately towards my children. I’ve caused them stress, discomfort, Christ, I made Allura cry.”

“You didn’t know.”

“But I should have,” she locked eyes with him, “I should have known. It’s my job to know when my children are upset. Not take any hints as an excuse to press harder.”

“But I shouldn’t have brought Papi into it. That’s not fair of me, knowing how heartbroken you were when you broke up. I’m no better than you are, using your love life as fodder for arguments.”

“No, Cielito. You wouldn’t have done it if I hadn’t made you truly upset. I’m so sorry that I’ve done this for so long.”

“And I’m sorry for not saying anything before now,” Leandro took her hand, “very few people are as close with their mothers as I am to mine. I wouldn’t willingly do anything to hurt that. You. Not for anything.”

“You’re...not mad?” she furrowed her brow.

“Not anymore,” Leandro answered.

“But you deserved to be,” she said.

“I did,” he agreed, “but I love you. More than anything. Everything you do is to make us happy. Even if it is wrong sometimes.”

“I love you, mi Cielito,” she started crying again, and wrapped her arms tightly around her son, “I love you so much. I would never want to make you sad or uncomfortable or...Red!”

“Red is fine, Mami,” Leandro assured her, “she’s fine. We’re fine.”

“I’m so sorry I put your friendship at risk,” she said.

“Forgiven. If it wasn’t for you, we wouldn’t have spent spring break together becoming friends.”

“That is sweet of you to say,” she put a hand on his cheek, “to have a son as wonderful as you, that must make me the luckiest woman in the world.”

“To have a mother as wonderful as you must be worth all the stars in the sky,” Leandro smiled. It was something they used to say to each other when Leandro was little.

“Oh! Here I am feeling sorry for myself and my poor guests are starving.”

“You’re right. Enough melodrama. Let’s make tamales!” 

They held hands as they walked up the stairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm fucking hungry thanks. Roasting peppers on the stove is goddamn terrifying.


	15. Inescapable Things

Leandro woke up, as he often did, before Hunk. He stretched as he sat up. Leandro glanced back for a moment, just a moment, before kicking his legs over the side of the bed. He had, quite possibly, eaten one two many tamales. This was something he did not know was humanly possible before.

He leaned forward and groaned as quietly as he could. Something caught his eye, then. Something that had very specifically gone unnoticed before. The drawer to his nightstand was slightly ajar. Leandro stifled his panic to tell himself it was nothing, and closed it. He allowed himself to briefly wonder how long that had been like that.

And then he walked downstairs. This house, for the first time since it had been moved into by his parents, required the air mattresses stuffed in the basement art supply closet. Hazel and Robin slept on them. Allura laid on the couch, most likely at Robin’s insistence. There was nothing worse than a house full of sleeping people. Not to Leandro.

Luckily, there was one person missing from his post. Leandro saw Shiro sitting on the back patio. Salvation. He quietly opened the door.

“Hey,” Leandro greeted.

“Hey,” Shiro smiled at him.

“Everyone is still asleep,” Leandro complained.

“What am I, chopped liver?” Shiro asked, “Have a seat.”

“Okay,” Leandro replied, taking the chair beside him, “I can’t figure out why there are only two chairs out here.”

“One for your mom, one for Penny,” Shiro said plainly.

“Yeah, but,” Leandro came to the sudden realization that the chair was slightly wet from an early morning rain shower, “we’ve never had a full set. My parents bought two when we got here. And they said they would get more chairs. And they’ve been procrastinating getting more chairs for years now.”

“And now there’s not really a use for the extra chairs, two people living in the house full time?” Shiro guessed.

“Exactly.”

“Madness,” Shiro shook his head.

“Exactly. Madness,” Leandro looked over to him, “hey, I’m sorry I haven’t been, you know, the best friend ever since we’ve been here.”

“What are you talking about?” Shiro asked.

“I mean,” Leandro paused, “a lot of my attention has been going to other places. I mean, you and Katie have gone the most ignored.”

“It’s fine,” Shiro sipped his coffee, “you have a lot to worry about right now. Your sister’s wedding, her fight with Diego, your dad being around, your-”

“Please do not list them off all in a row like that,” Leandro interrupted.

“Right, sorry,” Shiro paused, “I just want to make sure that you’re, you know, okay.”

“Yeah,” Leandro nodded, “yeah. I’m keeping it together surprisingly well for someone who’s entire life is falling apart.”

“Hm,” Shiro set his mug down.

“Thanks to you guys, I mean,” Leandro added.

“Thanks to us you’re falling apart or keeping it together?” Shiro raised an eyebrow.

“Pass?”

“Leandro,” Shiro tilted his head.

“Kidding. You guys have been so great,” Leandro assured him.

“So have you,” Shiro said.

“Here I was thinking that I’d been a terrible host.”

“You’ve been great...considering the circumstances, I mean,” Shiro said.

“So not considering the circumstances, I’ve been a terrible host?” Leandro asked.

“Come on,” Shiro answered.

“Right. Well, you know. Thanks,” Leandro folded his arms, “thanks for getting it.”

“I believe that is the bare minimum requirement for being friends,” Shiro pointed out.

“Well. You’re passing the biannual friend fitness test with flying colors,” Leandro said.

“Huh?” Shiro asked.

“Nevermind,” Leandro waved it off. The two sat in silence for a little bit. Silence was different with Shiro. It wasn’t tense. Not that it was tense with the others, of course. Comfortable silence was well established amongst them. But, well, it was just different.

“Leandro?” Shiro asked, breaking up his thoughts.

“Yeah?”

“How are you doing with that other thing?” 

“What other thing?” Leandro asked.

“You know,  _ the _ thing. That we talked about before we left school,” Shiro elaborated.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Leandro lied.

“Fine, alright. I don’t want to pry information out of you that you don’t feel like sharing. But I’m just saying that if ever you want to, I’ll be around. You know, I’ll wait.”

“You’re that bored?” Leandro asked.

“Leandro,” Shiro rolled his eyes.

“What, did your subscription of Teen Beat not come in the mail?” 

“ _Leandro,”_ Shiro repeated.

“What?” Leandro shrugged.

“You really have been hanging out with Red.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’ve been more of a smartass since you’ve become friends with her,” Shiro observed, “it’s disconcerting.”

“Red isn’t even that sarcastic,” Leandro pointed out, “she doesn’t really get it that much.”

“Well, that I know. She is kind of a little jerk, though,” there was fondness in Shiro’s voice that Leandro didn’t quite understand, “you don’t need to be sarcastic to do that.”

“I don’t see that in her.”

“Give it time,” Shiro said, “anyway, the other thing.”

“Right, the other thing,” Leandro cleared his throat, “maybe I don’t want to talk about it.”

“That’s fair,” Shiro nodded, “but when you don’t want to talk to me about things, you carry a different energy. Different body language, different tone, et cetera.”

“You can be a psychologist right now or you can be my friend right now,” Leandro said, “but you can’t be both.”

“What if I tag team it?” Shiro asked.

“Shiro,” Leandro groaned.

“Right. Sorry,” Shiro held up a hand in surrender, “I choose friend.”

“Good,” Leandro drummed his fingers along the arm of the chair. Other than that, total silence.

“So…” Shiro gestured.

“Remember that thing I said?”

“You’re gonna have to be more specific,” Shiro blinked.

“You know what I’m talking about. You’re the one who brought it up,” Leandro pointed out.

“Oh. Do you mean the thing you said about getting stomach aches whenever Hunk does or says certain things around you? Or how you feel nervous around him even though he’s your best friend? Or-”

“Don’t say it,” Leandro instructed, “please. My dignity. Hunk could hear.”

“Hunk is a floor up, his window is on the other side of the building, and he’s also asleep.”

“Even still,” Leandro waved a hand.

“Do you remember what I said about that being completely normal?” Shiro asked.

“I remember,” Leandro nodded, “but there’s new information.”

“New information?” Shiro echoed.

“Yes,” a beat of silence.

“Would you...care to elaborate on that?” Shiro raised an eyebrow.

“Can’t you just develop a telepathic link with me so that I don’t have to say it?”

“Right, that definitely sounds easier.”

“Shiro,” Leandro sighed.

“I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s wrong,” Shiro pointed out.

“I’m in love with him!” Leandro blurted.

“Come again?” Shiro asked, nearly choking to death on his coffee.

“Hunk. I’m in love with him,” Leandro said slowly.

“How did you come to that conclusion?” Shiro asked.

“Well. I sort of realized I had a crush on him the other night,” Leandro explained.

“And you jumped from crush to in love in a few days?” Shiro asked, “Leandro, I think you’re misunderstanding the phrase speed dating.”

“You’re misunderstanding the phrase shut the fuck up,” Leandro retorted.

“Well I might have misunderstood it had you actually said that to me.”

“Shiro!” Leandro huffed, “I’m having a fucking crisis, and you’re making the lame jokes.”

“My jokes are not lame,” Shiro protested.

“Not the point!”

“You’re right,” Shiro admitted, “you’re right. I’m sorry.”

“I usually am.”

“Go on,” Shiro added.

“Right,” Leandro looked down, “well, I don’t know if you’ve ever realized you liked someone before, but it’s kind of like now you have to look at the entire relationship backwards. Your history and everything.”

“I’m familiar,” Shiro said.

“Anyway, the more I thought about it, the more I thought about everything that’s happened between us, the more I felt like…”

“Like…” Shiro pressed.

“Like, I’ve never been in love before. I know I talk a big game, but I’ve never been kissed, I’ve never  _ really  _ been in a relationship. But I’ve had feelings for people before. I’ve had feelings for friends before. But it’s never been like this. This is like…”

“A whole new level?” Shiro suggested.

“Exactly,” Leandro nervously finger combed his curls.

“Are you,” Shiro hesitated, “thinking about telling him?”

“You think I should?” Leandro asked.

“I think you should,” Shiro nodded, “I mean, obviously not now.”

“No?”

“Not if you’re just holding it together with all of the family stuff, I mean,” Shiro explained, “on the one hand, feelings like this are a burden themselves to keep hidden. On the other hand, depending on what he says, you could really get crushed.”

“Great! You’ve been so much help!”

“I’m trying,” Shiro defended.

“I know,” Leandro sighed, “I wrote him a letter.”

“You did?”

“Well, tried to, anyway,” Leandro corrected himself, “feelings are a lot easier inside you.”

“That they are,” Shiro agreed.

“I mean, horrible and difficult to comprehend.”

“Mm.”

“But worse to articulate and actually say,” Leandro continued.

“Mm,” Shiro agreed.

“I got through like fifty attempts.”

“And you really think that a letter is the way to go?”

“I mean, not really a letter. More just a set list of questions and answers?” Leandro explained.

“If he said something off-script, you’d panic,” Shiro pointed out.

“I did not think of that,” Leandro’s eyes grew wide.

“What did these notes say, exactly?” Shiro asked.

“Four score and seven years ago our fathers-”

“Leandro.”

“I don’t know! They’re all jumbled up in my mind. It’s like…a super letter now.”

“Just tell me bits and pieces of what you can remember,” Shiro suggested. 

“Well...okay,” Leandro sighed, “just that he doesn’t have to do anything about it and he can take his time responding but I felt like he deserved to know that I’ve fallen in love with him.”

“That sounds perfect.”

“What?” Leandro shrieked, “that was horrible!” 

“It was concise, to the point, moreover it doesn’t make your feelings out to be Hunk’s fault. Well done,” Shiro said.

“What are you, my English teacher?”

“I’m just telling you that you don’t have to alter one word of that.”

“You don’t think that it’s...dry? Uninteresting?”

“You’re telling the guy you love him. I’m pretty sure he’d be interested in what you have to say if it was the words I love you surrounded by a pasta recipe.”

“Right,” Leandro narrowed his eyes, “yeah, let me just, ‘hi, Hunk, cook the pasta to al dente reserving one quarter cup of heavily salted pasta water, I’m in love with you, by the way, and sautee in with the sauce.”

“I’ve never heard a more moving confession,” Shiro teased, “Leandro, you need to not be in your own head about this. You’re funny, smart, charming and handsome. Not to mention you’re incredibly sweet. Hunk would be very lucky to have you as a boyfriend.”

“And if he doesn’t want me as one?” Leandro asked.

“Then you’re both lucky to have each other as friends,” Shiro said.

“Okay,” Leandro hit his head against the back of the chair, “thanks.”

“Any time,” Shiro smiled, “have you given any thought to when you’ll tell him?”

“I keep saying tomorrow, but, well…”

“Don’t pressure yourself into doing anything you’re not ready for,” Shiro reminded him.

“Right. But I am ready. I think so, at least? Now or never, right?”

“I’ve never heard anybody use that phrase before attempting something advisable.”

“I mean,” Leandro paused, “I think I’m gonna legitimately throw up on him if I don’t tell him soon.”

“What?” Shiro raised an eyebrow.

“It’s a thing!” Leandro said, “Unresolved inner conflict makes me barf. I threw up on my mom’s divorce lawyer once. Ruined her pencil skirt.”

“Was it a nice pencil skirt?” Shiro asked.

“It was hideous,” Leandro answered, “it had feathers on it.”

“Then you did the fashion community a favor.”

“Shiro, focus,” Leandro said.

“Right. Focused,” Shiro tapped his nails against the side of his mug.

“I think...tonight.”

“Like, tonight as in tonight?” Shiro asked.

“No you bonehead, tonight as in next Tuesday.”

“Just making sure. Jesus.”

“That way there’s a buffer zone in case he rejects me. So it’s not immediately like, hey I love you, time to spend an eighteen hour car ride with you.”

“I’m pretty sure we could trim that down a bit if we took a different route.”

“That is not the point.”

“And you’re sure you want to do this?” Shiro asked.

“Why, do you think it’s a bad idea?”

“I think it’s a great idea.”

“Then why are you making me second guess myself?” Leandro demanded.

“Because,” Shiro said, “I want to make sure you’re not doing something you’ll regret.”

“I’m not gonna regret it,” Leandro assured him, “at least I won’t feel like I have an anvil on my back.”

“Then you should do it.”

“Great,” Leandro sighed, “I’ll just say it. I’ll pull him aside and then I’ll say it. And that will be it. That’s all. Three sentences and I’m in the clear.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Red asked. Leandro nearly jumped out of his own skin.

“Is it pecan or  _ pecan?” _ Leandro asked, “because we can’t figure it out.”

“It’s never come up?” Red asked.

“Not once,” Leandro answered.

“Not, like, at family holidays?”

“Diego is allergic to nuts,” Leandro explained.

“Well, it’s pronounced with the long e but the short a in Japanese,” Shiro explained, “although-”

“I’ve changed my mind. I could not be less interested in whatever this is,” Red interrupted, “me and Allura and Carmen are going surfing for a little. Do you want to come?”

“I do want to come,” Leandro stood.

“Apparently there’s some big event tonight that Allura wants us to go to,” Red added.

“A big event?” Leandro asked.

“At the beach,” Red explained, “I think it’s a little ridiculous to drive there and back and then there again later, but the waves look really perfect from over here.”

“What sort of...oh,” Leandro said, “ohhhh.”

“What?” Red asked.

“Allura!” Leandro called out quietly. Allura walked towards the door.

“Yeah?”

“Tonight wouldn’t be the BBC, would it?” Leandro asked.

“Yeah?” Allura repeated, “You knew that!”

“What’s the BBC?” Red asked.

“Besides the British Broadcasting Channel,” Shiro chimed in. 

“It stands for the Beach Band Cookoff,” Allura explained, “it’s like a talent showcase.”

“And a cookoff,” Leandro added, “obviously.”

“It’s every couple of months, usually on a Friday,” Allura continued, “to raise money for the local undersea wildlife preservation committee.”

“I can’t believe I forgot about the BBC!” Leandro dragged a hand down his face, “Is your band performing?”

“What kind of. Yes. Yes, we’re performing. So is your little sister, for that matter,” Allura answered, “and Jules is making her pineapple grilled veggies.”

“Oh my god, I haven’t had those in so long,” Leandro said.

“Used to be the only way to get you to eat your vegetables, remember?” Allura asked.

“And then she took it all away because that was the only form of vegetable I was eating, coated in sugar and pineapple and barbeque and-”

“Leandro, stop. I’m already so hungry,” Allura instructed, “Shiro, do you want to go? Admission is five dollars per person.”

“I’m in,” Shiro said.

“Perfect! The turnout is gonna be great this month. Coran will be pleased!” Allura grinned, “Oh. Coran is the owner of the surf shop. He organizes these things. With a lot of legwork from me.”

“Old family friend,” Leandro added, “we’ve known Coran since before we were born.”

“He knew my dad for longer than my dad has known yours.”

“By, like, five seconds,” Leandro pointed out.

“Four days,” Allura corrected.

“You’d better be quiet, or Papi will wake up from his coma there and loudly broadcast the story of how they met for the fifty millionth time,” Leandro warned.

“I practically have the thing committed to memory,” Allura put on her most dramatic voice, “it was the summer of 89, and I had just met my lovely bride. Of course, I did not know she would be my bride yet. In fact, I hated her-”

“We very strictly do not have time for this,” Leandro held up a hand.

“Right. We have to surf, drop by the restaurant, I have band practice, I’m utterly swamped.”

“Swamped,” Leandro echoed, “can I come to band practice?”

“Do you promise not to behave like an idiot this time?” Allura asked.

“No,” Leandro grinned.

“Fine,” Allura sighed, “well...we’re wasting daylight, as I said, swamped.”

“Right,” Leandro agreed, “let’s surf!”


	16. Of Amps and Appetizers

Band practice took place in the basement of the pizzeria where Allura’s friend Shay worked in. They weren’t allowed to use the surf shack, with all that Coran was trying to plan. Plus there wasn’t enough room. Or that’s at least the way Allura explained it to Red and Leandro as they followed her down the stairs to the basement.

“Yo,” one of the girls greeted. She didn’t give anyone time to address her before she began drumming loudly. 

Allura, instead of attempting to shout over the drumming, took one drumstick directly out of her hand.

“Hey!” she glared at Allura.

“Nyma actually coming to practice for once,” Allura twirled the drumstick in her hand, “what, might I ask, is the occasion?”

“It’s funny you should say that,” Nyma said, “you want me to practice but you took my drumstick away.”

“I’m sorry, do you need this?” Allura asked.

“To make music? Uh, kinda,” Nyma appeared to have no patience for Allura’s antics.

“You can take a break. We have guests here,” Allura gestured towards Red and Leandro.

“Hi,” Nyma muttered with as minimal enthusiasm as she could manage, “did you ask if you could bring these randos?”

“No offense, Nyma, but if you wanted any kind of authority here, you would show up to practice a lot more than you do,” Allura said.

“But this is Shay’s pizzeria,” Nyma pointed out.

“She asked me,” Shay explained, “sorry, I forgot to tell you.”

Nyma grumbled something in response.

“You’ve already met Leandro, and this is Red” Allura continued without so much as an acknowledgment of Nyma’s words, “guys, this is Shay and Nyma”

“Hello!” Shay waved.

“Whatever,” Nyma kicked her stool away from the drumset.

“Sorry about her,” Shay said sheepishly, “she’s a grouch because I woke her up before noon.”

“Don’t apologize on my behalf!” Nyma ordered.

“Sorry!” Shay shouted.

“Okay, so you guys are here,” Allura looked around, “but where the hell is Lily?”

“Lily quit,” Nyma said plainly.

“What?” Allura demanded.

“She just freaked and left,” Nyma shrugged.

“Nyma,” Allura warned, “people rarely just freak.”

“Are you insinuating I had something to do with this?” Nyma asked.

“I am not insinuating it. I am outright saying it. This would be the major difference between passive aggressiveness and regular aggressiveness.” Allura furrowed her brow.

“Nyma, tell the truth,” Shay nudged her.

“It was nothing,” Nyma insisted.

“I bet you a million dollars that is not true,” Allura pressed.

“I told her,” Nyma paused, “it was pretty damn difficult to make bass playing boring and I was very impressed that she managed.”

“You,” Allura stifled a laugh, “why?”

“She called my song selection tacky,” Nyma explained.

“So you went and insulted her bass playing?” Allura asked.

“Well, am I wrong?” Nyma dodged the accusation of her judgment to antagonize her.

“Whether or not you are wrong is entirely irrelevant to the situation,” Allura said, definitely agreeing.

“My favorite was when she picked up the guitar and began slowly strumming one note over and over,” Shay chimed in, “it really was quite funny.”

“Thanks!” Nyma grinned, “Someone is on my side!”

“You can’t very well be a fair judge while macking on the defendant,” Allura pointed out.

“Macking on? Who let Allura watch the Fresh Prince of Bel-air again?” Nyma asked.

“Don’t you dare insult the integrity of that show,” Leandro said.

“Well, anyway, the point here is not how boring Lily was-” Allura started.

“Very,” Nyma replied.

“The point here is that on the rarest of occasions that we actually managed to get a gig,” Allura continued.

“Unpaid,” Nyma added.

“We are left without a bassist. Congratulations, Nyma, you have ruined everything,” Allura was completely exasperated.

“‘S what I’m here for, babe,” Nyma grabbed her drumstick back from Allura.

“Sorry I’m late,” a voice said, thundering down the stairs, “I wanted to give the fighting a good buffer zone so that it was mellow by the time I got down here.”

“Come back in ten minutes,” Shay suggested.

“I cannot believe the degree to which none of you give a shit about anything!” Allura shouted. Carmen attempted to walk back up the stairs whence she came, but Leandro grabbed her wrist.

“I give a shit,” Nyma protested, “I care about this band.”

“Yeah, right,” Allura rolled her eyes.

“Guys,” Shay stepped between them, “we made a commitment to Coran to perform tonight.”

“I know!” Allura shrieked, “That’s why I’m-”

“Please spare me your unproductive ranting,” Shay raised a hand, “we made a commitment, and we have to honor it. And instead of trying to find solutions, you are both acting like children. Lily was not the best bassist in the world, she started the most drama, I am glad to be rid of her. But the way Nyma went about things was completely childish. End of discussion.”

“But-” Nyma started.

“End of discussion,” Shay repeated, “I’m not going to make you guys apologize. You would not mean it and that is not a good use of time. I’ll remind you that Leandro can play bass.”

“Not well,” Leandro took a step back.

“Leandro!” Allura scrambled over, “I’m begging you. I will pay for your admission tonight. I will wear a shirt with an obscenity on it. Anything you want.”

“I would,” Leandro said, “I would. But I’m a worse bassist than Lily was.”

“Beggars can’t be choosers,” Allura pressed.

“I would, really, but uh…” Leandro trailed off.

“Why are you trying so hard to get out of this?” Allura raised an eyebrow, “What’s going on?”

“Nothing!” Leandro lied.

“I very much do not believe you,” Allura tilted her head, “and as your best friend, in the middle of a crisis I might add, I demand you tell me.”

“Okay,” Leandro sighed, “I’m telling him.”

“You are?” Allura’s eyes widened, “That’s great!”

“I’m glad you think so because I’m fucking terrified,” Leandro blinked.

“Wait,” Allura paused, “so, you’re telling him tonight?”

“That’s the plan,” Leandro said, “and it will be a little harder to tell him that while performing.”

“Counterpoint, you can dedicate your performance to him,” Allura suggested.

“Allura,” Leandro rolled his eyes.

“I’ll do it,” Red chimed in.

“You…” Allura considered this, “you would?”

“Why not?” Red shrugged.

“You think you can learn a song in a day?” Nyma asked.

“As long as the chords aren’t, you know,” Red waved a hand, “what’s a really complicated song?”

“The death waltz,” Shay suggested.

“Thank you. As long as it’s not the fucking death waltz, I’ll be fine,” Red continued.

“I have the tabs around here somewhere,” Shay began sifting through the piles of paper. She handed it to Red, who stared at it for a while before nodding.

“Yeah, I can totally learn this,” Red assured them.

“You. Rule,” Allura said, relieved.

“Okay, other problem,” Nyma walked over, “no Lily, no Lily’s bass.”

“I can run home and grab a bass,” Carmen suggested.

“You’d do that?” Allura asked.

“Yeah,” Carmen held out a hand, “keys?”

“Be good to her,” Leandro said as he tossed his keychain over.

“Why are you so weird about your fucking car?” Carmen rolled her eyes and walked up the stairs.

“So, now that that’s taken care of,” Allura focused on Leandro, “you’re telling Hunk.”

“That’s the plan,” Leandro nodded.

“What are you going to say?” Allura asked.

“This is a little embarrassing to be talking about,” Leandro said.

“Come on, dude, we’re all friends,” Allura egged him on.

“That is a lie. Nyma is most certainly not my friend,” Leandro pointed out. Nyma kissed her middle finger and blew it at him in response.

“If it helps, I couldn't care less about any of this,” Nyma said.

“Very reassuring,” Leandro rolled his eyes.

“Okay,” Allura sighed, “you don’t have to say anything. In all seriousness, good luck.”

“Thanks,” Leandro smiled.

“Are you nervous?” Allura asked.

“Of course I’m fucking nervous!” Leandro shouted.

“Of course,” Allura squinted.

“It’s gonna be good, though,” Leandro worried his lip, “either way. No matter what he says, it’s gonna be good. It will feel nice to not have to carry this around.”

“I’m gonna go back to practicing before the schmaltz in here forces me to throw up,” Nyma announced.

“Cool. Then we won’t have to hear you talk anymore,” Allura smiled. Nyma flipped her off.

* * *

The cookoff started at sundown. Robin ensured they were just a bit earlier than was necessary to help Julia set up. Julia greeted them not with thanks and a smile, but by shouting various swears at her cooking.

“Hello,” she said when she caught sight of them, “mierda! What in fresh hell is that?”

“Oh, boy! I sure can’t wait to try my mother’s cooking!” Leandro said.

“Do not start with me,” Julia pointed a pair of tongs at him, “my sous chef and saucier canceled on me because they’re having their stupid baby, my fruit is not glazing properly, the pastelitos de guayaba have gone rogue, I think a pineapple main course with a guava dessert is entirely too much sweetness, and-”

“My dear, do not panic,” Robin put a hand on her shoulder, “this is why we came early. To help.”

“You are sweet to think I would let you step foot near my cooking,” Julia nearly laughed at the suggestion.

“It is the twenty-first century, Julia,” Robin said, “a man can’t cook?”

“Men can cook,” Julia answered, “You, my love, cannot.”

“This is the thanks I get for showing up for you?” Robin put his hands on his hips.

“You’re right,” Julia clicked her tongue, “you’re right. I’m sorry.”

“But you’re right,” Robin sighed, “my cooking is no good. But I did bring reinforcements.”

“Robbie, we have to go check-in,” Allura tossed an arm around Red’s shoulders. 

“Me and Katie, too,” Penny chimed in.

“I didn’t know you were performing,” Robin said.

“Well, I am. And it’s gonna rule,” Penny blinked.

“No doubt. Well, that leaves Carmen, Shiro, Hunk, and Leandro,” Robin locked eyes on the unsuspecting four of them.

“I’d be delighted to help, Ms Rivera,” Shiro smiled.

“I wouldn’t! I have other things to do tonight,” Leandro protested. Julia opened her mouth to reply, but Coran approached.

“Hello!” he greeted, looking about as stressed as anyone they’d ever seen, “How’s it going over here, Jules?”

“Going better now that my help has arrived,” Julia answered.

“Yes. Where did Margaret and Angela go?” he asked.

“The woman they’re adopting from just went into labor,” Julia answered, “nine days late, can you believe it! That child decided to be fashionably late and waited until this exact day?”

“Tell them I said congratulations,” Coran said, entirely unfazed by her annoyance, “okay! I need names from all of you so Julia doesn’t get disqualified for unregistered help.”

He handed over his clipboard and watched as they all reluctantly signed.

“Coran, this is Red. She’s filling in for Lily,” Allura nudged Red with her elbow.

“Hi,” Red greeted.

“Where has Lily gone?” Coran furrowed his brow.

“She got in a fight with Nyma. She quit,” Allura explained.

“Nyma. I have no idea what I’m going to do with that girl,” he rolled his eyes and extended a hand, “pleased to meet you, Red. Allura has told me so much about you.”

"Really?" Red asked

"Oh, you have no idea," he answered.

“Coran,” Allura warned through gritted teeth.

“Yes?” Coran either didn’t notice or didn’t acknowledge her tone.

“Nevermind,” Allura sighed.

“Robin,” Coran continued, pulling him into a hug, “good to see you.”

“Likewise,” Robin smiled.

“Thanks again for agreeing to loan us your instruments.”

“It minimizes delays,” Robin said.

“That it does,” Coran nodded, “that said, I do have an issue with one of the amps.”

“Oh no, you didn’t give them the maneater, did you?” Carmen asked.

“I gave them the maneater,” Robin sighed, “I got it mixed up with the other one. I could go grab the other one-”

“Do you think that would be faster than explaining to the others how to use it?” Coran looked at his clipboard.

“I’d have to be backstage all night,” Robin pointed out, “so.”

“We have to be ready to start in thirty minutes,” Coran tapped his watch.

“Okay, yeah, there’s definitely no time to run home and pick an amp. I guess I’m your roadie for the night,” Robin folded his arms.

“I feel horrible putting you on the spot like this,” Coran clicked and unclicked his pen.

“Please. Anything for a friend,” Robin grinned, “besides, I like being backstage.”

“It’s where he lives,” Carmen said.

“Perfect!” Coran beamed, “Alright. Robin, performers, please follow me.”

“And then there were five,” Shiro sighed.

“Okay, I’m running behind, so I need all hands on deck. This glaze is trash. I need more vegetables. Carmen, run to the store and get me some,” Julia instructed.

“Sir yes sir!” Carmen took the keys from Leandro and rushed off.

“Leandro, I need your help making a new glaze. Hunk, Shiro, I’m putting you both on the pastelitos de guayaba. Form an assembly line. Shiro, cut the fruit into one-inch pieces and put them on the puff pastry. Hunk, get the cream cheese.”

“Oye, Mami, what are you going Chopped on us for?” Leandro asked.

“I swear on my life I will go Cutthroat Kitchen in a very literal sense if you don’t quit complaining and help me cook. I will be nice Julia when we’re finished,” she pulled out a cooking sheet.

“To do list: reconsider summer job at the restaurant,” Leandro pretended to write something down.

“Rápido!” Julia lined the baking sheet with parchment paper in the most menacing fashion possible, “Quit joking around! No tenemos tiempo para esto!”

“Okay! Jeez! I’m going!” Leandro put an apron on.

* * *

Against all odds, they managed to finish in time for the tasting portion to begin. Once they served the judges, everyone else was lined up to eat Julia’s food.

“Wow, long line,” Hunk marveled.

“Mami is kind of a local legend around these neighborhoods,” Leandro explained, “before Diego was born, she and Papi used to throw all sorts of parties to show off her cooking skills. It’s a lot harder to share with your whole culdesac when you have five children and usually a dozen or so family friends hanging around.”

“Please,” Julia chimed in, “I am no legend. Cielito, you exaggerate.”

“I never exaggerate,” he exaggerated as he served a guest his food.

“Gracias, Sr. Rivera!” he said as he took the plate. He took a bite and grinned, “mejor que nunca, Julia!”

“You flatter me, Roberto! Please enjoy your meal elsewhere. There is a very hungry looking crowd behind you.”

“Ah, yes,” Roberto nodded, “see you at the wedding!”

“See you then,” Julia grinned, “Claudia’s great-uncle. Very nice man.”

“I thought they were having a smaller ceremony?” Leandro raised an eyebrow.

“They are,” Julia answered, “Claudia’s father passed away shortly after you left for school. Roberto is going to give her away.”

“Oh, how horrible,” Leandro paused, “but wait, aren’t you and Papi giving Rose away?”

“That we are,” Julia nodded, not looking up.

“So they’re both going to be given away? What are the guests going to see when they sit down? An empty alter?”

“The bridal parties will be standing there, and your inability to serve and speak at the same time is making me consider gluing your lips shut.”

“Right. Sorry,” Leandro served another plate.

“Up next, Penelope Rivera-Cruz and Katie Holt!” Coran announced.

“Oh, I’m gonna go record their performance, if that’s alright. Robin was going to record it but, well,” Julia pulled Robin’s video camera out of her bag.

“I’m going with you,” Carmen said, “since I’m sure you have no idea how to operate that thing.” 

“What, because I’m old?” Julia asked.

“Hazel is older than you,” Carmen pointed out, “and she records most of Dad’s performances. But the thing likes to destroy your life.”

“Your dad and things that are extra difficult to operate,” Julia shook her head, “why doesn’t he just replace them so that normal people can operate them.”

“You know,” Carmen waved a hand, “it’s a sense of pride, getting it to work.”

“Whatever you say,” Julia shrugged, “you guys think you have this for a minute?”

“Whatever,” Leandro said.

“Leandro, this is very important,” Julia locked eyes with her son.

“Right! Yes. I’m on it. We won’t let you down,” Leandro assured her.

“That’s mi Cielito,” she kissed him on the cheek and walked away.

“Actually, I hate to ditch you guys, but those tacos I got earlier…” Shiro clutched his stomach.

“You said you went to lunch,” Leandro’s eyes widened, “oh don’t tell me my dad took you to Alejandro’s.”

“How did you know?” Shiro asked.

"Because he's the only person with a stomach strong enough for Alejandro's. You're excused. I have felt your pain," Leandro said. Shiro thanked him and ran off.

And then there he was, standing alone with Hunk. Why was he so sweat **y** ? Oh, right, the oven. But he was still unreasonably nervous.

"So, uh, Hunk," he began, not wanting to dive right in too quickly, "that's...is that your real first name, or a nickname? 

"A nickname," Hunk answered, "you didn't know that?"

"I never asked," Leandro shrugged.

"I guess I never told you, either," Hunk furrowed his brow.

"Where did it come from?" Leandro asked.

"Huh? Oh. Well," Hunk paused to plate some vegetables, "my real name is Malosi, which is Samoan for strength. My aunts used to call me Hercules or Hunk, but they dropped Hercules when my older sisters rented the movie and they thought it was garbage."

"Wow," Leandro laughed.

"Yeah," Hunk couldn't help but laugh too.

"So, Malosi?" Leandro askes.

"Yeah. Everyone's called me Hunk since I was really little. I introduce myself as that because honestly at this point it's a little weird to hear anyone not from my immediate family call me Malosi," he explained.

"I see," Leandro said, "it's a nice name, though. Fitting, too."

"You can call me Malosi," Hunk blurted, and immediately backtracked, "I mean. You know. If you want to. I never thought about how weird it was that my best friend didn't know my real name."

"Well, I'm of no place to judge," Leandro raised a hand, "I mean, Lance."

"Right," Hunk nodded, "I guess not."

"It was a little weird at first to hear you all call me Leandro. But I've adjusted. It's nice," he continued, "I think I'm gonna keep it going when we get back."

"That's great!" Hunk smiled, "I like it better. Not that I'm some authority on what name you should call yourself."

"No, I get you," Leandro said.

"I'm still gonna go by Hunk."

"Sounds good."

"But you can call me Malosi too, sometimes. Just if you want to," he added.

"Cool, I think I will," Leandro smiled. Hunk smiled back.

"Hey, listen, Leandro, I was thinking-"

He was interrupted by the sound of microphone feedback.

"Everyone, I am proud to present our next act, Penny and Katie!" Coran announced. Penny took the mic from him.

"This one is for all the pre y2k folks out there!" she shouted. She turned on the drum machine. Leandro instantly knew when the beat started.

"Oh no," he groaned, "they're not. They're really not."

"I believe they are," Hunk sighed. 

"Well, now, don't you tell me to smile, you stick around I'll make it worth your while, my number's beyond what you can dial, maybe it's because we're so versatile!" Penny and Katie sang harmoniously. The crowd laughed and cheered at the song.

"My baby sister is rapping," Leandro shook his head, "this is horrible. This is the darkest day of my life."

"Come on, it's supposed to be ridiculous. It's the nature of the beastie boys," Hunk pointed out, "besides. The crowd is eating it up."

"I guess you're right," he froze, "she's breakdancing. I'm gonna die."

"She's not bad, either, Hunk observed. 

"Jealous of the rhyme and the rhyme routine! Another dimension, new galaxy," Penny turned the microphone towards the crowd.

"Intergalactic, planetary!" The crowd cheered.

“I cannot fucking believe this,” Leandro said.

“Somehow, I think it’s going to be okay,” Hunk put a hand on Leandro’s shoulder. When the performance was over, it took nearly ten minutes to get the crowd to calm down. Leandro frankly wasn’t expecting the population of this small beachside town, many of the residents non-English speaking, to apparently be enormous fans of the beastie boys.

Julia arrived back at the stand, and the four of them settled into a rhythm again. It was a very, very, very long time before Shiro returned.

“Shiro,” Julia greeted, “where-”

“Alejandros,” Leandro explained.

“Ah,” she nodded, “that was the first place your father took me on a date. He insisted it would be delicious. That was, of course, when Alejandro senior was still alive. Lovely man. The poor guy put Taco Bell’s reputation of moving swiftly through the digestive tract to absolute shambles.”

A customer that had walked up sometime during the latter half of Julia’s story gave her a very strange look.

“Alejandro’s,” she explained.

“Say no more,” the customer replied.

“I’m just glad that’s over,” Shiro said, tying his apron behind his back. Leandro and Julia just looked at each other, prompting Shiro to ask “what?”

“Oh, honey,” Julia tilted her head.

“Oh my god,” Shiro said.

“I have a full bottle of pepto in my purse,” she gestured towards her bag, “you’ll likely need the whole thing.”

_ “Oh my god,” _ Shiro repeated.

“Please welcome to the stage, our next act, the Exoplanets!” Coran interrupted Shiro’s agony.

“Hey, that’s Allura!” Leandro began cheering and hollering as the curtain opened. The chords began and Allura stepped up to the microphone. 

“You tell me you need me, I ask you why. You kiss me so sweetly

it gets me high,” Allura had a quite lovely voice, and awesome guitar skills too. Red was nailing the song like it was second nature, Shay was clearly having a lot of fun with her keyboard playing, and it wasn’t hard to see why they put up with Nyma. It was not the first time Leandro had seen them perform, but it had been almost a year. And although it was not the last performance, but it was sort of like the finale for the family. It would be time to go home if Robin was still not backstage. 

The band approached Julia’s stand.

“I am so fucking hungry,” Nyma said, “I am so hungry, and she told me I had to eat from your stand.”

“Nyma,” Shay pinched the bridge of her nose, “she’ll have a plate. Whatever you’ve got, she’ll eat it.”

“Four of everything, please,” Allura requested, “what the hell happened to you guys?”

“There were so many of them,” Leandro looked off in the distance.

“You have a pineapple chunk stuck to your face,” Allura added.

“Shut up and die,” Leandro replied, handing her a plate. The girls went after their plates like hyenas.

“This is really good, Julia,” Nyma told her. 

“Holy shit, Nyma said something nice,” Allura gasped as dramatically as she possibly could.

“Don’t tease,” Julia scolded, “Nyma is always very sweet to me.”

“Yes, because you feed her,” Leandro chimed in. 

“Don’t listen to them. You know how many pizzas Allura has given me?” Nyma asked.

“And you’re still rude to her,” Julia nodded, “though I do so wish you would be as nice to Allura and the others.”

“I’ll try, Julia,” Nyma promised. Allura stifled a scoff.

“So, how did the cookoff go?” Shay asked.

“We lost,” Julia glared.

“I don’t even understand why this has to be a cookoff, anyway,” Leandro said, “can’t it just be, like, a potluck or something?”

“Easiest way to get people to provide free food,” Julia reasoned, “well, we’ll get them next time.”

“Yes we will,” Leandro agreed.

“I texted Coran. He said that Robin should be free in about forty minutes,” Julia said, “but I’m going to start packing this all up since I’m running out.”

“We’re free!” Leandro exclaimed, “Free to experience BBC as it was meant to be experienced!”

“Yes, you’re excused to enjoy the festivities. But I expect you all to be back at the car at eleven. Do you hear me? Eleven even.”

“Mami,” Leandro protested, “Robin is supposed to be back at around that time. But it was loosely defined. You know that Robin will be talking Coran’s ear off.”

“This is true,” she sighed, “but I expect my children to be more punctual. Penelope has a curfew. Oh, yes, and go find Nena.” 

“But-” Carmen started.

“Not another peep or I will make you help me load up the car,” Julia warned. 

“Fine,” Leandro said, “have it your way.”

“Have fun!” Julia smiled cheerfully as the gang walked off. 

“We’re gonna be sitting at the car forever waiting for Papi,” Carmen groaned.

“How long could he possibly take?” Shiro asked.

“Near hours,” Leandro answered, “on a good day.”

“Charisma has a downside, and it’s that every passing stranger wants to engage in conversation with him,” Carmen boomed her voice, “Princesa, I am so sorry I am late but the security was telling me this wonderful story about his club for watching paint dry. It is truly quite fascinating.”

“He is not that bad,” said a voice from behind.

“Nena,” Leandro greeted, “well. That was easier than I anticipated.”

“Where did you get that cotton candy?” Carmen asked.

“Over there,” Katie chimed in.

“Do they have the blue kind?” Carmen pressed.

“Yes,” Penny answered.

“And you chose to get pink instead?” she tsked, “I thought I raised you better than that, Nena.”

“It’s all just spun sugar. The same flavor,” Penny shrugged.

“I am telling you, they’re different,” Carmen argued.

“Whatever you say. But what makes blue the best?” Penny asked.

“I can tell you when we get over there,” Carmen put an arm around her little sister.

“Can we get crepes suzette, too?” Penny asked.

“Right after cotton candy?” Carmen raised an eyebrow.

“They let you hold the torch but you’ve gotta have adult supervision,” Penny explained.

“And to sign something,” Katie added.

“Oh let me hop right on that. Are you sure you don’t want to be tossed out of a window first?” Carmen folded her arms.

“Come on, Carm,” Penny pleaded.

“Fine,” Carmen sighed, turning towards the others, “I’m being kidnapped.”

“We can see that,” Leandro said.

“Meet me at the car, yeah?” Carmen asked, “Eleven. Don’t forget. Mami will kill you.”

“Yeah yeah,” Leandro rolled his eyes.

“Well, if they’re splitting off,” Nyma pointed, “I could use some of those famous sopapillas that Allura has been raving about.”

“Good idea,” Allura agreed, “anyone else want to come?”  
“I’ll go,” Red answered.

“Uh, actually, can I talk to you for a second?” Leandro gently elbowed Red.

“Sure?” Red shrugged.

“Be right back. Don’t leave without her!” Leandro instructed. 

“Okay?” Allura stared as they walked a good distance away.

“So,” Nyma grinned, “how about my song selection?”

“Yeah, I was wondering why you changed it last week,” Allura locked eyes with Nyma.

“Well, I mean,” Nyma paused, “Red with love?”

“Oh. Yeah, that’s a pretty funny coincidence,” Allura said, “it’s a cool song though.”

“Okay,” Nyma sighed, realizing it was no good to tease someone that was unaware they were doing something worthy of teasing, “nevermind.”

Allura gave Nyma a strange look, shrugged, and turned her attention back towards Leandro and Red. They were starting to talk now. 

“Dude?” Red asked, “The thing you needed me for?”

“Right,” Leandro paused, “so, you know about my plan tonight.”

“If you could call that a plan, yes,” Red folded her arms.

“Well…” Leandro trailed off.

“Yes?”

“I’m probably not going to do it,” he finally said.

“What?”

“I mean, what if it was fate, the fact that my mom roped us into doing stuff. And now we’re all just walking around together-”

“Not true,” Red pointed out, “we’re going to get sopapillas.”

“That leaves Shiro,” Leandro said, “although he’s having explosive diarrhea, I think.”

“Thanks for giving me the memo,” Red muttered, “look, if you guys want to be alone, I can make that happen. We can drag Shiro with us because he’s never had them,”

“Uh, what part of explosive diarrhea weren’t you getting?” Leandro asked.

“That’s a good point,” Red agreed, “I’ll text him. He’s in on it, right?”

“He is…” Leandro looked away.

“What?” Red looked up from her phone.

“Nothing.”

“Liar.”

“Nothing!” Leandro insisted.

“Leandro, if there’s some other reason you don’t want to tell Hunk-”

“What gave you that idea?” Leandro squeaked.

“Because you’re looking for excuses to get out of it,” Red answered, placing her cell back in her pocket, “look, if you’re not ready to tell him-”

“I am, though! I am! I have no idea what’s the matter with me!” Leandro was talking a bit louder than necessary.

“Okay,” Red gestured, “then do it.”

“You make it sound so easy. Not everyone is as confident or as cool as you. I bet if you liked someone-”

“What the hell are you  _ talking about? _ I am not that confident! I have no idea where you got that from. I’m constantly terrified of saying the wrong thing. I don’t get jokes. My whole life I’ve felt like an outsider. You know, the only place I’ve ever felt like I could be myself without smoothing my edges or whatever else, besides with Shiro was here with you!”

Leandro was stunned to silence.

“So stop telling me I’m so much smarter than you, cooler than you, more confident, because I’m not! Stop treating me like I’m better than you! I’m not!  _ I’m not!” _ she huffed, lowered her voice, “I’m not.”

“Red, I…” Leandro paused, “I’m so sorry. I had no idea I was putting you on a pedestal.”

“Yeah, well,” Red looked down, “I shouldn’t be screaming at you.”

“Maybe not,” Leandro agreed, “I didn’t mean to…”

“I know, Leandro,” Red looked at him, “it’s okay.”

“It isn’t, though,” Leandro said, “I’ve been doing it all year, I think. Comparing myself to you.”

“Why?” Red asked.

“I don’t know,” Leandro sighed, “just...you seem like you have it all figured out.”

“Funny, I always thought the same way about you,” Red clicked her tongue, “difference is, though, when I started to get to know you I knew that the perfect egotistical jerk image I had in my head was, well, you know.”

“Yeah,” Leandro messed with his bracelet as he spoke, “yeah. I guess that...yeah.”

“If there was a world record for saying yeah the most-”

“Shut up, I’m trying to apologize,” Leandro laughed.

“Don’t worry about it,” Red told him.

“I’ll stop doing that. But can you please just tell me if something is bothering you?” Leandro requested, “You’re my friend. I don’t want you to be upset because of something I did.”

“Deal,” Red agreed. Then they hugged.

“We should get back,” Leandro said.

“Oh god. You were asking me for advice and I made this whole thing about me,” Red furrowed her brow.

“I will remind you that it’s my fault that the subject even landed on you in the first place,” Leandro pointed out.

“Okay. Call it even,” she said as they started walking.

“So uh. What did we land on?” Leandro asked, “Tell him or tell him not?”

“You can ask me for my opinion if you want, Leandro. But the only person who can make that decision is you,” Red answered.

“You’re right, it’s not gonna change my mind,” Leandro nodded, “but tell me anyway.”

“I say you tell him.”

* * *

Shiro excused himself rather quickly, and Hunk and Leandro were alone. They got cotton candy, they listened to bands. After a while, though, they resolved to sit on the beach in an area that was unbearably cold for most of the crowd. It wasn’t too bad for them, though.

“Nice night,” Hunk said.

“Mm,” Leandro agreed. He’d been figuring out what to say all night. But he still wasn’t sure. It was now or never though. 

“I can’t believe it’s been two weeks already,” Hunk sighed, “I almost want to not go back.”

“Me either,” Leandro looked at him, “your hometown is only an hour away.”

“That it is,” Hunk said.

“Maybe we could visit each other on weekends?” Leandro asked, “I mean if you want to.”

“I’d love that,” Hunk smiled. There was silence. Each one of them had something they wanted to say. Neither of them knew exactly where to start. Finally, Leandro broke the silence.

“Hey.”

“Yeah?”

“Can I...tell you something?”

“Yeah?” Hunk’s spine tensed. Timing had a funny sense of humor. Leandro’s phone started beeping.

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Leandro grumbled. It was Julia.

“11:15, Leandro,” she said. Leandro’s face fell. He’d really been trying to do this for that long?

“Is Papi there?” Leandro asked.

“As a matter of fact, we helped him load the instruments into the car. He’s on his way back to the house,” Julia answered.

“Shit,” Leandro whispered, silently berating himself for his procrastination.

“We need to leave right away. I have leftovers to put in the fridge. Your sister is going to a birthday party tomorrow at noon, and I made her promise to do her schoolwork first.”

“Isn’t the point of homeschooling that she can do it whenever she likes?” Leandro pointed out.

“They rented a bounce castle,” Julia explained.

“Oh, yeah, you’re never going to see her again,” Leandro sighed reluctantly, “we’ll be right there.”

* * *

“I just want to know what’s wrong with me?” Leandro asked.

“There’s nothing wrong with you, Leandro,” Allura said, “you just freaked out. It could happen to anyone.”

“You should have seen me. I was like a deer in the headlights!” Leandro huffed.

“I get that you’re frustrated but your pacing is gonna wake up your mom and then we have a real problem on our hands,” Red pointed out. 

“Also you’re shouting. And Hunk is upstairs.,” Allura added.

“I just,” Leandro sat down on the bed, “I don’t know. He was so much easier to talk to before this. Now getting out one sentence is the struggle of a lifetime.”

“Been there,” Allura muttered, “yeah, it’s rough.”

“How did you get past it?” Leandro asked.

“I didn’t. The girl I liked moved away,” Allura explained.

“Somehow, this is not helpful,” Leandro crossed his arms.

“Well, if it’s so difficult to talk to him,” Red chimed in, “you know, figure out a way to tell him without speaking.”

“Red, I didn’t know that when you wiped out this morning you hit your head  _ that _ bad,” Leandro looked at her.

“I mean...you could write him a letter,” Red suggested. Then, remembering she was not supposed to know about the letter, immediately backpedaled by saying, “or a song. Or buy him a greeting card. Shit, I don’t know.”

“A greeting card?” Leandro raised an eyebrow.

“I don’t fucking know!” Red flopped over onto the bed.

“That letter thing. I could do that,” Leandro said, “you know, I was trying to before. But it was different. More like a speech than a. Whatever. Point is, I kept tripping over my own words and backtracking. There’s a lot of good stuff in there, but it’s jumbled up by my anxiety.”

“I can help,” Allura suggested.

“What?” Leandro asked.

“I mean. This is, like, a private thing. But you seem pretty stuck. So, you know, I’m good with words. Being a songwriter and all.”

“Is that why you only do covers?” Leandro asked.

“Shut up. My stuff isn’t ready,” Allura defended, “but I will help make sure your letter is. Then you can come hide at my house to avoid him confronting you before you’re ready.”

“I’ll help too,” Red volunteered, “I can’t promise I’ll be a lot of help, but…”

“You guys would really do that?” Leandro smiled.

“Don’t get sappy on me, Rivera. Save it for Hunk,” Allura instructed.

“Right, okay,” Leandro stood up. The first thing they needed was something to write the letter onto.

* * *

True to her word, the second the letter was deemed appropriate for Hunk eyes, signed and placed on the nightstand next to the bed, Allura dragged him off to her apartment to hide. 

The next day, Penny woke up uncharacteristically early. She snuck some energy drinks belonging to Red, replaced them with money placed in their spots in the fridge. Penny had extra trouble focusing when she was excited.

Julia stood with her daughter as she worked, offering help when requested and sometimes just because Penny seemed stuck. She finished at eleven forty-five, which left barely enough time to get to the party in time.

“Your math is improving!” Julia marveled, “I’m very proud of you! Alright. I already put your present in, so just put on your shoes and get in the car.”

“Can I have one minute?” Penny asked.

“Nena, we’re already running late,” Julia pointed out. 

“Just a second! I want to say goodbye to everyone!” Penny pleaded.

“Well,” Julia sighed, “okay.”

“Thanks!” Penny smiled.

“What are you still standing there for? Vamos!” she commanded.

“Alright!” Penny turned on her heel to face the others, “It’s been very cool hanging out with all of you.”

“Likewise, little dude,” Red smiled, “uh...dudette?”

“You’re a pretty cool kid,” Shiro said, “it was very cool to meet you.”

“I guess I might be out late. And you guys have to leave early in the morning, so…” Penny held up a peace sign.

“Alright, Nena, you’ve said goodbye,” Julia glanced at the clock.

“Wait, where’s Hunk and Katie?” Penny asked.

“Hunk is still sleeping I think,” Julia explained, “but Katie is right outside. Penny-”

“I’ll make it quick,” Penny said. She was already walking towards the door. Katie was sitting cross-legged writing in her notebook.

“Oh, hey!” Katie took out her earbuds.

“Hey!” Penny said.

“You finished your homework?” Katie asked, standing up.

“Yep. On my way to the party now,” Penny answered.

“I guess I’m probably not gonna see you until late,” Katie reasoned.

“Nope. Which is why I wanted to say how much fun I’ve had hanging out with you,” Penny continued, “I wish you didn’t have to go.”

“Well,” Katie worried her lip, “maybe I’ll go to school here like your parents said.”

“That would be cool!” Penny smiled, “In the meantime though, you can text and call me. You know, whenever.”

“Yeah!” Katie was reacting with too much enthusiasm. She knew this, but she couldn’t seem to stop, “Only...well.”

“Right. My number.”

“You can use my notebook,” Katie held it out. Penny smiled and wrote her phone number down.

“I’d better go,” Penny hesitated, “but there was something else I feel like I’m forgetting to do.”

“What?” Katie asked. Penny’s hands shook. She leaned over and kissed Katie on the cheek.

“Nope, that wasn’t it,” Penny managed, “well. Sorry. See you later!”

“Don’t apologize,” Katie told her, and smiled, trying not to freak out outwardly. 

“Text me, okay?” Penny asked.

“Yep. Yep, I will do that,” Katie squeaked. Neither one of them could stop smiling all day.

* * *

_ I’ve written and rewritten this stupid thing like fifty times. If you’re reading this, it, for some reason, I’ve decided it’s the final draft. _

_ I think you’ve noticed there’s been this weird tension between us. Well, I mean, I know there has been. We’ve talked about it. But I didn’t understand, not when we had that conversation, exactly why. _

_ The truth is that I like you. A lot. You know, that way. And I’m not saying this to make you uncomfortable. I just wanted you to know. And you don’t have to do anything about it. I’m just getting it off my chest.  _

_ If you don’t feel the same way, you can just disregard this letter. I won’t be offended, I promise.  _

_ If you do like me back, though. Well. That would be useful information for me to have. And I’m sorry I’ve made it more difficult to respond by running off to Allura’s and turning my phone off. Just nerves, I guess. _

_ Anyway, that’s all. It’s important to me that you know I’m glad to have you as a friend. _

_ Later. _

_ Leandro. _

* * *

Hunk must have read the letter over and over again about a dozen times. He, against reason, tried calling Leandro. Leandro, of course, did not pick up. So, after asking Julia for her number, he called Allura instead.

“Hey!” Allura picked up on the second ring, “Did you read it?”

“Yeah,” Hunk said, still staring at it.

“And?” Allura asked.

“Well, I’m pretty much freaking the fuck out,” Hunk admitted, “Leandro’s there?”

“He’s here. He’s doing the hand across the neck thing,” Allura explained, “I can put him on, though.”

“No, this is in-person stuff,” Hunk said, “thanks.”

“I can bring him by?” Allura suggested.

“I’ll come over,” Hunk said, “if you’d text me your address.”

“Sure. It’s a short walk,” Allura assured him, “see ya.”

Hunk raced down the ladder so fast he nearly fell to his doom. He made it out the door before anyone could ask him what the hell he was doing. 

It was, indeed, a short walk. He had barely broken a sweat by the time he reached Allura’s apartment building. He hit the buzzer so hard he bent his finger just slightly the wrong way. Great.

“Hunk?” The buzzer asked.

“That’s what they call me,” Hunk said, “let me up.”

He heard the door buzz and he ran inside, up the stairs like he was running from the devil. Allura’s door was already open, so he fell face-first onto the floor. 

“Hunk!” Leandro leaped up from the couch.

“Hey,” Hunk scrambled to his feet.

“Well,” Allura folded her arms, “I think I’m gonna go get my mail.”

She was out the door before either one of them could manage to protest.

“Well, I guess,” Leandro managed, “we should talk.”

“I guess so,” Hunk took a step towards him, “did you...really mean all this?”

“Yeah,” Leandro looked away, “sorry for just...dropping that on you.”

“No, don’t be sorry,” Hunk tripped over one of Allura’s shoes and nearly fell over again, “I’ve sort of been...trying to figure out how to say the same thing to you.”

Leandro’s heart jumped against his chest.

“How long?” Leandro asked.

“Four months,” Hunk confessed, “it’s been killing me.”

“Four months,” Leandro repeated, “and I never had any idea.”

“I know,” Hunk said, “I thought I was being pretty obvious but Red told me you had no idea.”

“Red knows?” Leandro asked.

“And Allura and Carmen,” Hunk finished.

“Wait. So Carmen knew you liked me, and that I liked you?”

“They all did,” Hunk paused, “and I knew you liked me too.”

“What?” Leandro shrieked, “How?”

“You, uh. You left your nightstand open,” Hunk explained.

“Oh, Hunk, you didn’t,” Leandro groaned.

“I didn’t read it! I swear! I saw a few out of context words. It was your sister who told me after she saw me peeking.”

“I am going to kill her,” Leandro glared at nothing in particular.

“She didn’t mean to,” Hunk defended, “I swear. It was an honest mistake.”

“Even still,” Leandro said, “wait. So if you knew that I liked you, how come you didn’t, I don’t know…”

“I thought maybe the reason you hadn’t given me the letter yet was because you had a lot on your plate already. And I didn’t want to add to anything,” Hunk explained.

“Well, that’s very sweet,” Leandro smiled, “misguided, but sweet.”

“Misguided?” Hunk asked.

“Hunk, I always,  _ always  _ have a lot on my plate,” Leandro pointed out, “but you know. I shouldn’t use that as an excuse to put off being happy.”

“Very philosophical,” Hunk said.

“I talked to just about everybody about this. It’s a little bit of every piece of advice I’ve gotten.”

“Well, it’s smart,” Hunk said.

“Thanks,” there was a beat of silence.

“So, Carmen, Red, and Allura have been watching us chase each other around for two weeks, huh?” Hunk asked.

“Guess so,” Leandro said.

“My God, it must have been excruciating,” Hunk brushed a lock of his curly hair out of his face. It was at that annoying level where the bangs weren’t long enough to tie back but the rest was.

“Hopefully it was a little comical,” Leandro nodded.

“We’re getting off track,” Hunk sighed.

“We’re very good at that.”

“So, I like you. A lot. I think I might love you,” Leandro said, ignoring the high pitched squeak that Hunk let out, “and you like me too?”

“I do. A lot,” Hunk was suddenly having trouble not skyrocketing through the ceiling.

“Well,” Leandro laughed a bit, “what now?”

“I think…” Hunk shuffled back, not remembering what exactly he had rehearsed on the way over, “I think I love you too. So...considering that…”

“Considering that?”

“I wouldn’t mind...you know...going out,” Hunk continued, “I would really, really like to go out. You know. Try this thing.”

“Well, great news,” Leandro took a step towards him, “because I would really like that too.”

“Great,” Hunk grinned, stepping closer still.

“If this were a movie...well,” Leandro backed away.

“What?”

“Forget it. It’s too soon.”

“Too soon to what?” Hunk raised an eyebrow.

“Well...I wanted to…” Leandro looked away. This was excruciating, “but I’ve never…”

“Leandro?” 

“Yes?”

“Would you like to kiss me?”

“I...yes.”

So Hunk stepped forward, and Leandro did too. And then Leandro leaned in just a little too fast, and headbutted Hunk.

“What the fuck?” Hunk touched his forehead, but he was laughing.

“Oh my god, I am so fucking sorry,” Leandro said.

“It’s okay,” Hunk laughed again. He reached out and took Leandro’s hand. He put his other hand on Leandro’s cheek. And then he kissed him. And it was a very good second try at a first kiss.

* * *

It was four in the fucking morning, and everyone was most certainly too tired for this shit. Carmen and Penny sat on the couch with their father, all three of them attempting enthusiastic goodbyes while also half asleep.

Julia was giving all the kids hugs, one by one. When she got to Red, she stopped.

“Leandro has told me you’re not much of a hugger,” she said, “and I don’t want to force you into something that makes you in any way-”

Red didn’t let her finish before wrapping her arms around Julia.

“Thank you. For everything,” Red squeezed tighter.

“I’ll see you in June,” Julia said with a smile, “in the meantime, you can call me whenever you need anything. Or just want to talk.”

“Same for me,” Allura said, “you had better text me.”

“Yeah,” Red pulled away, “I will.”

“Good,” Allura smiled.

“This has been fun,” Leandro said, lightly punching Allura’s arm.

“It has,” Allura hugged him, “I am going to miss hanging out with you.”

“It’s not like I’m gonna be gone forever,” Leandro pointed out, hugging her back, “even though it’s gonna feel like it.”

“I’m glad we made up,” she added, “I swear, I’m only two percent pissed at you.”

“Two percent, I can live with,” Leandro stepped back, “well...I guess if any of us want hope to get a decent amount of sleep before school starts in the morning.”

“Yes, you should go before I start crying,” Julia agreed, as if she was not already doing so, “one more hug.”

Leandro hugged her as tight as he could.

“I’ll call you every day,” he said.

“Oh, you had better,” Julia smiled, “mi Cielito.”

“Okay, we seriously do have to go,” Katie yawned, “I’m going to be sleeping through the entire car ride, but I’d still like to get home to my ferrets at a reasonable time.”

“Yeah yeah,” Leandro gripped the handle on his suitcase, “bye, everybody!”

“Bye!” they all shouted with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Then the gang loaded up the car and got in as quickly as they could, because Leandro was definitely going to cry and cry-driving was a bad idea.

“We should definitely make this an annual thing,” Shiro suggested.

“We really should,” Leandro agreed, turning on the car, “any music requests?”

“You’re letting us pick?” Katie snorted, “Leandro, are you feeling alright?”

“Shut up,” Leandro said, “I’m being nice.”

“Oh, I have a good one,” Hunk chimed in.

“Oh, do tell,” Leandro said.

“Talk too much by Coin.”

“Who by what?” Red asked.

“I have no idea what that is, but we’re about to find out,” Leandro opened the music app on his phone and began backing out of the driveway as the opening chords began. 

It was a hell of a spring break. It really was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I know you guys are probably wondering some things. Red and Allura didn't really get together at the end of this. Diego and Rose are still at odds with the wedding fast approaching. so on, so forth. But there is good news! this fic has always been intended as sort of a prequel, an amuse-bouche if you will of all the things to come. The other fic in this series is going to be near twice as long, and there will be a lot of ground to cover. I would really appreciate if all of you checked it out! It's good! I think so, at least :) thank you all so much for reading, and if you'd like to continue the adventure, here is the link for the new companion fic, As Long As We're Here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25617745/chapters/62182648


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